Talking Politics With Sam Uffindell Tauranga City MP

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and spent good quality time with your family, friends and loved ones.

We had our first family camping trip – needless to say it was a learning experience with three young children and two tropical storms – but that's what family bonding is all about.

Fortunately, there was a spare cabin at Ōhope Top 10 so we were able to relocate to a solid structure and out of Dad's shaky tent.

I've actually been very happy to get back to work this week; not just because it gave me something to do in the rain, but because we have a huge year ahead and I am absolutely pumped to get into it.

This week I've been working with our great team in Tauranga setting the path for the year ahead, talking tech with a visiting Irish Senator in Auckland and gobbling up all the goodness at the new Castle 91 Indian restaurant in Brookfield.

Next week there will be more local stuff before we head to Napier for our annual caucus retreat.

I can't wait to reunite with my colleagues and work through how we're going to change this government and New Zealand – all for the better.

For me, 2023 is going to be a year of discipline, goal setting, hard work and hopefully, ultimately, a new government and a new direction for our country. Let's go Tauranga and let's go National!