Ready to take on the challenge again

An election campaign for a sitting MP is just like a performance appraisal or a school report card. I am mindful that most of my reports always had the comment "could do better". So I am very humble and happy to have been re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Whanganui but mindful of the fact that there is always something that could be done.

Most of the public oscillate between wanting to see more of their elected representatives and getting sick of the sight of them.

One shopkeeper told me that I had a cheek showing up at election time when I wanted his vote and that he expected to see me at least once a year. As one of the several hundred businesses in Wanganui City he thought it was appropriate. When I asked him if all the other businesses in the electorate, including those in all small towns, had the right to expect the same, and he learned how far the electorate stretched, he modified his expectation. Still, he had a point.

The role of the MP is to be the best advocate for their constituents, their issues, their needs and their aspirations. MMP gives us all a population of about 56,000 to represent.

We field thousands of calls per year with inquiries as varied as the importation of pig meat, health needs, immigration inquiries, criminal justice matters, education issues, local government representation, business concerns and those who just want to tell their representative their thoughts about the issues of the day.

Then there is the maintenance of relationships between local government representatives, government agencies, business identities, social service agencies and schools. There is a need to be available as speaker to many community groups and government representative at public events, protests, public meetings, and on the end of the phone when the media call.

In between this, there is a need to have a few ideas of our own. Our electorate needs to grow population, visitors and jobs. Without opportunities for work, the young and the new to town leave or merely pass through. With no new sets of eyes looking at our issues, opportunities and potential, chances get missed, population decreases or atrophies. It is not the MP who creates jobs, but it is about creating and being part of an environment where people are encouraged to start new businesses and expand existing ones.

So in Wanganui it is about jobs, the arts, tourism and education. People have travelled to Wanganui for education for 150-plus years and graduates achieve huge heights. Businesses flourish and Wanganui entrepreneurs started with the first Maori traders, with Otago goldfields, Auckland settlers and exports to Australia. That's the spirit required in the 21st century.

We need to expand the infrastructure of roads, schools, community assets and business while managing the environment that sustains us. Without an environment, there is no economy.

In the meantime, I am grateful for the opportunity that I have been given to represent this community and the responsibilities that come with it. I look forward to contact made with me directly or through offices in Hawera and Wanganui and clinics in Patea, Opunake and Eltham on a regular basis.