Talking Politics With Sam Uffindell Tauranga City MP

Fieldays 2022 showed us what the Government should expect from regional New Zealand next year – an absolute shellacking. I spent Thursday and Friday on our stand and wandering the sites talking to vendors and received enormous encouragement from those in attendance.

The message is clear: the Labour Government is a complete disaster for the regions, our primary industries and our country more generally. An uncountable number of people told me in no uncertain terms that we absolutely must win for them.

Recently the Government's ineptitude soared with the passage of Three Waters through the Committee Working Group stage. The great heist from local governments, merged with undemocratic co-governance, reached new lows with the addition of two more waters, taking us to Five Waters, and a totally unconstitutional entrenchment provision.

The Government and the Labour caucus is in such disarray that they've now disintegrated and removed the entrenchment order. I say go one step further and just ditch the whole fiasco altogether.

On a brighter note, we had National Party Leader Christopher Luxon in town earlier in the week. We visited a primary school in Papamoa, the business chamber and a social service provider in town.

Christopher is surging ahead on the social investment front and knows too well that the way we repair our society is through targeted upfront investment in our most vulnerable.

I've had numerous attendees from the business chamber tell me how good it was to hear a major party leader talk common sense. I wholeheartedly agree!