As Bill Lawry, the great Aussie cricket commentator used to say, "it's all happening!" A busy couple of weeks at Parliament and in the Hutt, and there's just 100 days to go until the election. Like everyone, I was delighted when we moved to "Level 1" of the COVID response on Monday, and there are now no active cases of COVID-19 left in New Zealand!
This is a remarkable achievement and we should all be very proud. Now we turn to the economic response, which will be critical. Job numbers dropped by a record 37,500 people in April alone. The government’s own figures show hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders out of work and our country's debt more than tripling to $200 billion in the next few years. My focus during COVID-19 was making sure the Hutt got through it together - calls to seniors, building a community support network of "street captains", etc. Now my focus will be on helping us recover economically.
Speaking of the lockdown, on Monday I formally closed off my "Thankng Essential Workers' Art competition that I ran with the Hutt Art Society during the lockdown and afterwards. There were some remarkable entries from Hutt kids and I'll be profiling them on my Facebook page in coming days. The twelve winners each get a $50 Dirty Burger voucher and a $20 Fix Federation voucher - enjoy! You can see the winners below.
100 days to go! Amazingly today marks 100 days to go until the election on September 19. I've had a lot of people ask me how they can help - so if you'd like to assist me, please click here to sign-up as a member of "Team Bish". There's lots of ways to assist - everything from delivering leaflets, letters, phone calling, door-knocking, or even chipping in some money (you may notice my opponent is spending a lot!) If you can host a sign on your fence, please let me know. I am deeply appreciative of all the support I get from people in the Hutt, and I'd love to continue as your MP - so if you can help out please let me know.
In other news, I continue my work on transport. Auckland light rail continues to be an utter debacle, and it looks like Phil Twyford has another "secret letter" fiasco on his hands. This time he's refusing to release a letter from Winston Peters to him, which puts the kaibosh on his flagship project. I questioned him about this in Parliament last week, and incredibly he said he hadn't read the email (which makes you wonder why he says he can't release it).
Transmission Gully continues to be a real issue. The latest news is that Phil Twyford hasn't visited the site once in nearly three years as Transport Minister, and this afternoon it was revealed that an engineer working on the site was denied entry to the site, while Avatar film workers have been allowed in. That makes little sense to me.
Today I re-launched a campaign to get the government to stop the fuel tax increase planned for July 1, just a couple of weeks away. This is the worst time to increase tax, with households and businesses under pressure. Sign here to send the government a message.
Finally this week, congrats to the winners of honours from the Hutt in the Queen's Birthday Honours. I'm particularly stoked for my mates Billy Graham and Bill Sharp, who have done so much with young people in the Hutt over many years. They're both outstanding recipients and people I am proud to call them my friends.
Have a great Friday and weekend, and I'll see you again soon.
Chris
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100 days to go! Amazingly today marks 100 days to go until the election on September 19. I've had a lot of people ask me how they can help - so if you'd like to assist me, please click here to sign-up as a member of "Team Bish". There's lots of ways to assist - everything from delivering leaflets, letters, phone calling, door-knocking, or even chipping in some money (you may notice my opponent is spending a lot!) If you can host a sign on your fence, please let me know. I am deeply appreciative of all the support I get from people in the Hutt, and I'd love to continue as your MP - so if you can help out please let me know.
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One of my proudest moments as a MP. The Sidis are refugees from Syria, and for the last two years I’ve worked with them so their daughter and husband could join them in NZ. They arrived just before the lockdown. I wanted to meet them at the airport but I couldn’t as I was in quarantine myself.
Was amazing to join them for an incredible meal of Syrian delicacies, and share in their joy.
Some days as an MP are hard. That was a good day.
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We had some amazing entries but twelve really stood out. Congratulations to
Avyan Vardhan, Y2 for his rubbish trucks
Charlie Urquhart, Y2 for his coloured camouflage creature
Ourania Ayto, Y3 for her houses
Arnav Bansah Y4 for his corona warriors
Amelia Urquhart Y5 for her heart & vivid symbol
Kali Ayto Y6 for her rainbow
Tian Garrett Y7 for the collage
Alfa Wang Y8 for the silhouettes
Isabella Hartzuiker Y6 for her heart and roses
Alicia Paaka-Palele Y7 for her bubbles
Priya Kumar Y7 for the five workers in the heart
Alyssa for her row of essential animal workers
All of these young people receive a $50 voucher for Dirty Burger Petone for them and their whanau plus $20 from Fix Federation for a tasty treat!
Thanks to all of our essential workers who served the Hutt and New Zealand so well during the lockdown and afterwards.
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I'm getting great feedback on my "Business with Bish" videos that feature a local Hutt business and what they do.. If you're keen to have a chat with me and promote your own business, drop me a message and I'll come by and say hello! Here is Cupcake Sweeties, Compass Coffee, and Hills Hats.
Other videos up online already include: Dirty Burger in Petone, ESSC Eats in Eastbourne, Fix Federation, the Still Room in Eastbourne., Clive's Chemist in Wainuiomata, Buzz Cafe in High St, and Shazly Experience.
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Hutt Queen's Birthday Honours Winners
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Two Hutt legends. Billy Graham and Bill Sharp, both recipients of honours today in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, for services to youth. Billy a member of the NZ Order of Merit, Bill a Queen’s Service Medal.
So proud of my two mates.
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Cleaning up the Waiwhetu Stream on Sunday afternoon.
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Meet Ziggy Harry Keating the third, the new addition to the household.... she's a climber!
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National will provide a $10,000 cash payment to businesses that hire additional staff.
Small business owners who create jobs will be the heroes of this economic crisis, in the way that our nurses, doctors and all five million of us who stayed home were the heroes of the health crisis.
The scheme is called JobStart would begin on 1 November 2020 and run for the remaining five months of the financial year through to 31 March 2021, incentivising up to 50,000 new jobs
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Melling Train Station from 1954. Back in the day, the Melling line WAS the Hutt train line. It opened in 1908, and trains went from Wellington to Wairarapa via Melling, Belmont, Upper Hutt etc. Post World War Two the main Hutt train line became the new line across the valley, and the Melling line stopped running further north in 1954. But it could do so again, and I think it's definitely worth looking at seriously. What do you think?
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Happy Winston Peters Day! When he meant to search for ‘Tweets on Winston Peters NZ politician’ but put it in the message box (and published) not the search box 😂
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Called in to say hello to Jacky and Jennifer, the new wonders of Normablue Cafè in the Waterloo shops!
Out and about on a scooter in Auckland today.
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Chris Bishop 
June 11, 2020
