When Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott travelled up State Highway 1 from his home in Wellington to join Transport Minister Simon Bridges for a press conference on the Manawatu side of the Gorge, one might have expected him to have the sense to travel to Woodville afterwards and talk to those most affected.
No such chance.
A belated press release from his office advising business owners to contact IRD and ask for leniency does not cut the mustard. That is not the sort of response people here expect from their MP.
When I visited Woodville the day after the announcement I faced shock and worry from the business owners and workers I met. One business owner thought I was the MP, which speaks volumes about Mr Scott's inactivity over the last three years.
When Kaikoura businesses were cut off by the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016 the government set up a wage subsidy package. This allowed businesses to hold onto their staff until the slips could be fixed or an alternative route found.
This support was further extended when it was clear that businesses were struggling. Their turnover was dependent on traffic coming through the town. Woodville is no different. The two alternative routes - the Pahiatua Track and the Saddle Road - allow traffic to bypass Woodville.
While these alternative routes allow traffic to get to and from Manawatu, the fact is that the closure of the Gorge acts as a disincentive to make this trip. Attractions such as the Tui Brewery and Pukaha Mount Bruce see a reduction in visitors when the Gorge is closed. This in turn affects businesses throughout Tararua, down the Wairarapa valley and up towards Hawke's Bay.
I see no reason why the Government can't step up and offer support to those business directly affected by the closure, at least until a decision is made on what to do.
A long-term solution for the Manawatu Gorge has been sought for years. We can all point to numerous examples of slips that have affected the Gorge in years gone by. The most notable of those was the 2011 slip which closed the Gorge for 14 months.
That slip cost $20m to fix, with a further $10m in upgrades or maintenance to alternative roads.
This type of expenditure is unsustainable. While the cost largely comes from NZTA's emergency works funding, over time the cost of a viable solution would be easily met by the amount spent on fixing and preventing slips in the Gorge.
A 2012 NZTA report highlighted the possible alternatives to the Gorge and the associated costs.
The longer this is delayed the more expensive a solution will become - all the while the Saddle Road and Pahiatua Track receive far more traffic than they were designed for. In the case of Saddle Road, the costs of upgrading and maintenance now falls on NZTA. The Pahiatua Track however still falls to the Tararua District Council.
That places an unfair strain on what is a Council with a very small rating base.
There is a simple fix. Our MP should be making as much noise as possible about this issue. Tararua mayor Tracey Collis is doing an impressive job raising awareness of the issues around the Gorge, all without the support of our MP. There is a limit to what she can achieve if our person in Government just doesn't seem to care.
Support for business directly affected by the closure and relieving the burden on Tararua District Council are things that would be achieved it we had an effective MP.
Government ministers have recently announced significant capital funding in the electorates of Northland and West Coast-Tasman - seats the Government no longer holds but is trying to win back.
Two months out from the election, I therefore can't help but think if Wairarapa were a Labour-held seat, funding for a long-term solution to the Gorge would have been announced by now.
