Forum inspires our Pacific youth
Malo e lelei and welcome to Tongan Language Week, Uike Katoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga! I have visited some great initiatives throughout our rohe this month including meeting with the Windmill Trust in Foxton who do a great job in ensuring the windmill is operating and supporting the community. I also visited Foxton Beach School where the principal Hamish Stuart and staff are doing fantastic work with our tamariki there.
I also got to meet Tilly the kuras dog and bumped in to Lunch by Libelle who do awesome work making and delivering yummy kai under the Labour Government’s Free Lunches in Schools.
While I’m talking about schools, I want to further acknowledge Mark Robinson’s mahi at Waiopehu College and actually in our Horowhenua community.
Mark will be missed but really heartened to hear Mark will continue to work in the education space and continue to do great things for our tamariki and rangatahi.
Another awesome event I was privileged to attend and guest speak at was Fale Pasifika Horowhenua’s annual Pacific Youth Forum which involved students from Horowhenua and Waiopehu colleges. This is an annual event that provides an opportunity for young Pacific youth to hear from motivational speakers. It was also an opportunity for me to see all the great work and leadership happening in our rohe!
Good news: The second instalment of the short-term cost of living payment has begun being paid from September 1, to help up to 2.1 million people with the impact of rising prices.
In terms of our economic response to the cost of living, there’s no easy fix but we’re taking a range of actions to ease the pressure on families.
We’ve rolled out our cost of living package, which includes the short-term cost of living payment mentioned above, another one million people receiving the Winter Energy Payment to help with heating bill, an extension to our fuel tax cut, reduced road user charges and half price public transport until January 2023, permanent half price public transport for Community Service Card holders and further action to fix our supermarkets sector.
More good news, Adrian Rurawhe has been elected and elevated to the new Speaker of the House. Adrian is the proud Te Tai Haua¯ uru MP and is the second Ma¯ ori Speaker since Sir Peter Tapsell. Due to this elevation there has been a shift in Select Committees and Caucus groups and as a result, I am now the chair for the Infrastructure, Environment and Transport Caucus Committee.
Don’t forget to register to vote in the local body elections! I have attended the really well run Meet the Candidates event organised by the Horowhenua Ratepayers Association. These are a great opportunity to learn more about the Candidates and help you to make informed decisions on who you will vote for. Further Meet the Candidate events include:
■ Waitarere Beach Bowling Club, September 11 at 2pm
■ Ohau Hall, September 12 7pm
■ Te Takeretanga o Kura Hau Po, September 13 at 5.30pm
A reminder that while we are still looking for new premises our team are still available to support you.