Straight to the point With Sam Uffindel Tauranga City MP

On Tuesday, August 2, I was sworn in and delivered my maiden speech in the House. What an honour and thank you Tauranga for sending me there! I also delivered on my by-election promise and submitted my anti-gang convoy Member's Bill.

It's great to be here and there is so much hard work to do. We have a situation where this Government can't guarantee the basics of a one-person-one-vote democracy, where they are actively bidding up the price of affordable housing and pushing a generation of New Zealanders out of home ownership, where only one-third of NCEA students have basic writing skills, where people camp in the rain outside hospital, and where there are more than 100 shootings in a month. Does this sound like a developed, democratic country?

It's so important that we get a National-led government back in power. In my maiden speech I focused relentlessly on where we're going wrong and what we need to do. This country is for all of us and we want to see it prosper. We want our children to be educated, our sick to get easy access to healthcare, our young families to be able to work hard and buy a house.

That's not too much to ask – in fact, it's the basics of living in a first world country. We need a National-led government and we need to restore some sense and competency to the Treasury benches. Roll on the general election!