MPs tout Budget benefits for city

Labour adviser Tim Easton, Ōhāriu MP Greg O'Connor, and Labour List MP Kieran McAnulty.
PHOTO / Bevan Conley

Government MPs have been in Whanganui touting what last week's Budget can do for the region.

Labour List MP Kieran McAnulty and Ōhāriu MP Greg O'Connor were in Whanganui on Wednesday and finished at Confluence with a public session.

McAunlty said the Government had taken a different approach to its post-Budget activities than previous Governments.

"Traditionally you'd have a Budget and then you'd talk to chambers of commerce and economic development agencies - well actually they're only part of the story," he said.

"We've got this Budget with a focus on wellbeing so we've spoken to four different groups and all of them have had a cross section, it's not just been about business.

"We're talking to an audience that has business owners, workers, community workers, teachers and the elderly."

McAnulty said there was a lot in the Budget which will help support and grow a regional centre like Whanganui.

"It's all about ensuring the Government, and Whanganui and South Taranaki as two communities, counter those predictions we all had only five years ago that Whanganui is going to be a zombie town in the future," he said.

"It's about investing in the school buildings and hospitals for the growth that we're now seeing as opposed to closing schools and pulling back that we've seen in the past.

"I think what we're showing is recognition of the importance of regional economies, and if the Government is willing to invest in them that they do respond and opportunities do come from that.

"There's many examples of Whanganui's proud manufacturing history and something like Pacific Helmets that started here and has become an international company.

"If there's another example like that starting up here or starting up in Auckland then moving here that can get access to a venture capitalist fund then that's great news for regional towns."

The Budget set aside $300 million has been to help grow startup businesses, while $1.7 billion will go to hospital buildings and $1.2b is for school buildings.

Both MPs said overall feedback they had recieved about the Budget had been positive.

"From the discussion we've had with farmers, they're getting it that the bits have got to join up and that you can't just look after the rural community because if you don't look after the urban problems they become rural and vice versa," O'Connor said.

By Abe Leach
Whanganui Chronicle 7/6/19