PM rides shotgun in Labour play for Wairarapa
Labour list MP Kieran McAnulty’s bright red ute doesn’t have a back window which makes it a hard sell when you’re trying to give the Prime Minister a ride — especially in the rain.
“Kieran messaged me this morning to say ‘you might just want to prepare, the weather’s a little bit different here today,” Ardern said, shouting over the downpour at the opening of the Pahiatua Water Treatment Plant.
“I almost asked him whether he’d finally put a back window in his ute. If there’s not, I’m not sure I’ll be riding with you.”
A few hours later though, the Wairarapa candidate had talked her round and Ardern rode shotgun down the main strip of Masterton with Ikaroa-Rawhiti MP Meka Whaitiri in the back seat.
Ardern spent yesterday with McAnulty and Whaitiri on a tiki tour around the Wairarapa in an effort to turn the blue seat red.
National has held the seat with a large majority for five terms since Labour MP Georgina Beyer stood down in 2005.
But in the 2017 election National’s majority was halved and McAnulty lost by just under 3000 votes.
But the ex-bookie wasn’t brave enough to give his odds of beating National candidate Mike Butterick.
“I’m not taking anything for granted,” he said.
But part of the day went off track after Ardern, Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford said they would axe the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) if re-elected.
Deputy Prime Minister and NZ First leader Winston Peters accused Labour of abandoning the regions by discontinuing the PGF.
The proposed replacement regional fund was a “straight copout” and a “sad commentary on Labour’s priorities when they are by themselves”, he said.
Ardern disagreed, saying the PGF was only ever designed to be a $3 billion project over three years.
Yesterday’s whistle-stop trip with Ardern got McAnulty at least one more vote, though.
Veterinary nurse Nicky Doyle bumped into Ardern and her entourage at the local Eketahuna cafe.
“Actually meeting her, talking to her and looking into her eyes really persuaded me,” Doyle said.
“And I really like Kieran, you see him everywhere in the Wairarapa.”