Thoughts by Carl Bates, MP for Whanganui

Carl Bates, Whanganui Electorate MP. Photo / Ilona Hanne

OPINION

The General Election was only six weeks ago, but so much has happened since it may as well have been a lifetime ago.

Special votes were counted, the Electoral Writ was presented after recounts in three electorates, and on Friday, New Zealand’s new government was unveiled.

After special votes had been counted, it became clear that National would require support from two parties to govern.

Negotiations proceeded over a period of 20 days before formal coalition agreements were signed between National and ACT and National and New Zealand First in a ceremony at Parliament on Friday.

Christopher Luxon and his team of negotiators have reached an agreement on a wide range of issues, and there is a genuine spirit of goodwill between Luxon, David Seymour (ACT) and Winston Peters (NZ First).

This will, I believe, produce a coalition government that will be stable, will be focused on the issues that matter to New Zealanders, and one which will bring about much-needed change across a wide range of issues.

Front and centre is the New Zealand economy, which despite the assurances from the previous Finance Minister is not in good shape.

New Finance Minister Nicola Willis has three Associate Ministers in Chris Bishop, David Seymour and Shane Jones, and has indicated that she will fine-tune economic settings with a mini-budget before Christmas.

During the campaign, I had the opportunity to meet and work with a number of National’s new Ministers, including Chris Bishop, Erica Stanford, Simeon Brown, Mark Mitchell, Todd McClay, Penny Simmonds, Andrew Bayly, Simon Watts and Chris Penk, all of whom will bring ambitious visions to their allocated portfolios.

Watts and Bishop will be hard at work immediately, with the repeal of Labour’s Three Waters and Resource Management Act changes an immediate priority before replacement legislation is introduced, welcome news for the three local bodies in the Whanganui electorate.

Parliament is expected to assemble next Tuesday, December 5, for the swearing-in of all new MPs and the election of a Speaker, with National proposing to nominate Gerry Brownlee for this important constitutional role.

Once the Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro has delivered the Speech from the Throne, Parliament will begin a short but busy session leading up to Christmas.

The next few months promise to be anything but business as usual, and I am delighted that I will be playing a role in passing legislation which will be the first step towards getting New Zealand back on track.

I thank all those who trusted me with their votes or who supported me in a myriad of other ways and it will be my privilege to serve the Whanganui electorate as your elected representative.