Te Ururoa Flavell: Special generation is fading away

Tena koutou katoa. It is always hard to farewell those who have passed on.

This week, Rotorua said goodbye to renowned veteran of the 28th Maori Battalion, Aubrey Balzer. He was one of a special generation that will be remembered for years to come. Our veterans returned to New Zealand from the heat of battle and, sadly, few remain.

I must also pay tribute to Paora Te Rangi, my former classmate at St Stephen's School. We met again when Paora shifted back to Rotorua and, although small in stature, he did a lot of good work for Ngati Pikiao, Te Arawa.

It is sad to say goodbye to this old friend so soon. He was destined to take up a greater leadership role among us.

Youth parliament

Every two years, a youth parliament is held in Wellington where young people from around the motu are elected as Youth MPs to get a feel for politics. Applications close shortly for one senior high-school student to stand in my place in Parliament so, rangatahi ma, get in touch with my office asap.

The challenge of running a small business

Many of us enjoy shopping at the large stores around Rotorua such as Bunnings and Mitre 10 Mega but I am sad to see some of our smaller community and family businesses suffer in comparison.

I have seen this happen in my own Ngongotaha neighbourhood, where a long-standing family hardware store has just closed. I don't have a solution for this except to ask that we all do our best to support those whanau making a go of contributing to our communities in this way - support our local small business owners.

I welcome your feedback, email: mpwaiariki@parliament.govt.nz ph: 07 3503261