Wairarapa deserves a highly visible MP

Wairarapa MP Alistair Scott.

NOW THAT the honeymoon period for the general election is well and truly over, I get the sense the public would like to get involved with their new MP, Alastair Scott, in the traditional manner - face to face, chatting about what's wrong with the electorate and what your elected person can do to help.

Several members of the public have asked us if Mr Scott had an office, and I confess we'd lost track of it, so we have advised people to contact Mr Scott directly.

With the original MP's office being in the condemned Daniell Building, Mr Scott is meeting the public via the community centres.

There has always been disquiet in Wairarapa about the "visibility" of their elected member of Parliament, and certainly this was at its height during John Hayes' tenure. Opponents of the National Party latched on to it as a campaign point-scorer. Nonetheless, it can't have been a big deal. National's win last year was so emphatic, as was Mr Scott's landslide in Wairarapa. As Mike Moore famously said, voters are always right. Even when they are wrong, they're right.

What National could do for Wairarapa in a policy sense was possibly more important than what the MP could champion. But voters are traditional and consistent; a vote for the party was also going to generate a vote for the candidate.

But, since Wairarapa voters are traditional, I suspect the public would like the reassurance of an MP who is around and happy to field queries. My understanding is Mr Scott fields phone calls and, for efficiency, books rooms at the various community centres across the electorate for a common time when he can meet people.

I would hope Mr Scott, or the National Party, works towards getting an office here in Masterton, with the big blue-fronted windows. He is, without question, our man in Parliament. The voters have resoundingly said so. But it doesn't take long for murmurs of "absentee MP" to creep in. I applaud his efforts to circulate his electorate using the centres. As the year progresses, we hope his visibility will extend to functions and ceremonies - all part of the job for an elected MP.