Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger and her husband Louis enjoy the election evening in Te Awamutu with friends and supporters. Photo / Robyn Taylor
Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger and her husband Louis enjoy the election evening in Te Awamutu with friends and supporters. Photo / Robyn Taylor
After two terms in the relative wilderness of opposition, Taranaki-King Country National MP Barbara Kuriger says she is excited about the prospect of being back in Government and in a position to affect change.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature had the last say on her first day in Wellington with the new team when strong winds meant flights into Wellington were cancelled on Tuesday.
“We got all the way to the airport and attempted a landing, but it was obviously too dangerous,” says Kuriger. “It was pretty scary.”
Kuriger is one of six Waikato National MPs who ‘blue-washed’ the region’s general electorates.
National's Waikato MPs at Parliament on Tuesday, from left: Ryan Hamilton (Hamilton East); Scott Simpson (Coromandel); Louise Upston (Taupō); Tim van de Molen (Waikato); Tama Potaka (Hamilton West). Photo / Bradley Richardson
It is reasonably safe to assume that the “blue-wash” will be completed after the Port Waikato byelection on November 25 based on past results.
Incumbent Andrew Bayly is a three-term MP who won in 2014 with an over 17,000 majority and the electorate party vote for National from the electorate was 63 per cent. In 2017 it was a 19,000+ majority with 62 per cent party vote and in National’s disastrous 2020 election, he held on with a 4000 majority even though the party vote dropped to 36 per cent.
Andrew Bayly - National Party candidate for Port Waikato.
His Port Waikato electorate gave over 50 per cent of its party vote to National this year.
To compound Labour’s woes in the Waikato, Te Pāti Māori took the three Māori electorates of Hauraki Waikato, Te Tai Hauāuru and Waiariki.
Kuriger says she had a great night watching the election coverage with friends and family at a private function at Fahrenheit in Te Awamutu on Saturday night.
“We were hoping to win back some of the seats we lost in 2020, but to see us winning some of Labour’s strongholds was exciting.”
Kuriger first entered Parliament as a new MP in a National-led Government in 2014.
She says it takes a while to become experienced in the business of politics, but now that she is she is looking forward to what she can achieve.
“It was frustrating being in opposition from 2017 until now because although I worked hard for my electorate, you couldn’t be as effective as you wanted.”
Kuriger says the next vital date for the Government is November 3 when the special vote counting has been finalised.
“Our National leadership team and Act will be in talks, and they will be engaging with NZ First, but until the vote is finalised the coalition cannot be formed and other positions cannot be appointed.”
Meanwhile, she plans to go to work in her electorate, visiting her constituents and thanking people for their support.
“When we are campaigning it feels like we are always asking for something,” she says.
“It will be a positive experience to go back to the electorate just to say thanks.”
Barbara Kuriger - National MP for Taranaki-King Country.
In terms of what is important for Taranaki-King Country and New Zealand, she says rural New Zealand needs help to get back on track and our social structure needs rebuilding.
She acknowledges the economy is top of the list for many Kiwis and says National has fixed it before and they can do it again.
Kuriger believes if we fix rural New Zealand, we fix a lot of the economic problems.
“We need to get rid of the unnecessary red-tape and compliance that is hamstringing farmers, growers and small business and that will bring down costs at the supermarket and across other services,” she says.
“We have made it too hard for suppliers to get produce on the shelves at an affordable cost.
“I know we can’t control some costs, such as fuel, but we can control bureaucracy.
“It has turned New Zealand to a ‘can’t do’ country from ‘can do’.”
She says there are other issues, such as a shortage of seasonal workers, that the Government can address that will help with those basic costs.
Fixing our social structure is also key.
“Covid has put us out of balance and is being used as an excuse for kids not going to school, people not turning up to work and more serious crime,” she says.
“If we can get back into balance and show more respect for each other everything will improve.”
Most recently Kuriger has been working in the area of conservation and the environment and she believes if we work together on these issues it will help bring people together and restore some of that social structure.
Kuriger also looks forward to improving the transport network for New Zealanders, especially rural Kiwis.
“We need to do a better job of making sure all road users are contributing to the upkeep of our road,” she says.
“Then we need to do a better job of building better roads that need maintaining less often.
“In my electorate, for example, I hope when Mt Messenger gets finished it is a great piece of road we can enjoy driving on for years to come without roadworks and maintenance.”
