I WOULD like to offer my condolences to the families of the two soldiers who recently lost their lives in Afghanistan. This week, we applauded the bravery of Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer and Lance Corporal Rory Malone in a special parliamentary debate in Wellington.
This hits a defence base electoratesuch as the Rangitikei hard. It also reinforces the difficult and challenging tasks these brave young people undertake when joining any of our defence forces
The eruption of Tongariro last week brings possible challenges for our electorate as the tourism industry may suffer from any significant delays in getting things back to normal. This eruption further emphasises the interesting and challenging country we live in.
We would not, of course, have the diverse and interesting country we do without the volcanoes, the amazing rivers and beautiful rugged terrain we tend to take for granted. The rest of the world loves to walk across, climb over, canoe along, ski down or cycle around our region, making their contribution to the tourism industry very valuable to Wanganui, Waimarino and Northern Rangitikei.
Last week, I attended an evening at the Mokai Gravity Canyon Cafe hosted by the Landcare Trust, Horizons and Federated Farmers. The event was attended by locals to address the challenges of old man's beard, a noxious weed that is killing native bush in the area. In the Taihape Turakina Valley, part of the electorate, many of our rivers and streams have been affected.
It is a big challenge, and to assist with this and other environmental challenges, I will be launching a Rangitikei branch of the Bluegreens on November 18. My colleagues, Dr Nick Smith and Maggie Barry, will be coming to support this, and tickets will be available from my offices in Feilding and Marton in October.
One last thing: The Fantastic Evento Wearable Arts Awards was hosted by Feilding High School last weekend. Taihape Area School student Millie Law won with an entry called "Sounds Like Old School". Congratulations.
