Hi there,
This week I’m hosting the first of what I hope will be a series of public meetings on issues affecting our local community. My colleague, the Hon Lianne Dalziel, will be coming out to Upper Hutt on Thursday evening to talk about the Law Commission’s recent report on alcohol.
Parliament will soon be debating a range of issues including the legal drinking age, whether supermarkets should be allowed to sell alcohol, and whether bars should have mandatory closing hours. I warmly invite you to come along and have your say on an issue that affects so many in our local community.
Our next public meeting will be in late July and will focus on “Childhood”. We’ll be talking about the National government’s cuts to funding for early childhood education, national standards in schools, cuts to healthcare services for children, and the impact welfare cuts have on the youngest members of our local community.
I’m delighted that Ruth Dyson and Trevor Mallard have agreed to come and lead this discussion. Both were ministers in the last Labour government and between them they have significant expertise in the area. Come along and help us shape Labour’s policies for 2011.
Finally, we have two fundraisers coming up. Our next movie night on Monday the 12th of July will be a screening of the fantastic Kiwi film “Boy”. If you haven’t seen it, I can highly recommend it. If you have seen it, come along and watch it again! I’d also love to see you at our Quiz Night on the 28th of August. Get a team together for what I’m sure will be a really fun evening.
Thank you once again for all of your ongoing support.
Chris Hipkins, MP for Rimutaka
Taking part in Volunteer Week
Last week was Volunteer Awareness Week. This year's theme is volunteering across the generations. In recognition of this, I took some time out last weekend to help volunteers with the Wellington City Mission Food Drive, collecting food in the foyer of Countdown, Upper Hutt.
I also attended the Volunteer Awareness Week morning tea and the opening of the Hutt Valley Curtain Bank, which offers pre-loved and refurbished curtains to families in need. It was a great week!
Supporting local businesses
Last week I went to a thought provoking presentation by Mitre 10 Mega to Upper Hutt retailers. The meeting focused on how local shops and businesses could keep profits in the local community.
BNZ figures show that of the $73m total spent annually by Upper Hutt residents, only $31m is spent in our community; $42m is spent outside Upper Hutt. Overall, the figures showed that Upper Hutt endures an average net loss of up to $129m each year.
While we purchase about 80% of our food and groceries locally, we tend to buy other items like furniture and footware outside Upper Hutt. Only about 14% of our clothing is purchased from local businesses.
I’ve agreed to be part of a working group that will consider how we can turn that around and get local people doing more of their shopping locally. I’m always interested in hearing your views and suggestions.
Minister abandons state houses
It's outrageous that while thousands of families in the Hutt Valley languish on waiting lists for state houses, dozens of homes have been abandoned and left to rot by the current government.
There are over 40 empty state houses in Pomare. Many of these have been effectively abandoned by Housing New Zealand. That's not good enough.
For sometime the residents of Pomare have been led to believe that a major redevelopment is being planned. In the meantime they've put up with increasing numbers of houses being left empty and now it's time to say enough is enough.
The government can't just keep turning this neighbourhood into a ghost town. It's time for them to get on with redeveloping the empty houses so that Pomare is once again somewhere people can look forward to living.
Phil Heatley made big promises before the last election about upgrading state houses. The residents of Pomare are still waiting for him to make good on those promises.
Unfortunately he seems to have gone in the other direction, slashing the budget for acquisition and improvement of State houses by more than 80 percent and the Healthy Housing programme by 62 percent.
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