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27ththJan June- -33rdrdFeb July 2014 2017 27
FIRST ON THE STREET
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No No 434 606
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
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After too many years sitting on the side lines of Winter Festival, I thought I should give the new condensed format my support and headed up Skyline on Friday for my first Winter Festival daytime event in nineteen years, the NZSKI Business Lunch. The absence of our Clutha-Southland MP Todd Barclay was duly noted, however the real irony came when Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism Paula Bennett spoke. She talked about the need for Central and Local Government partnership in helping to not only solve our growing pains now but to “think big” ala Rob Muldoon when we plan our future. In the words of Minister Bennett, we have some work to do and we need to focus on what needs to be done. How unfortunate then that we have lost a young enthusiastic MP who in my opinion has done more for the Queenstown Lakes in his short two and a bit years representing us than his predecessor Bill English had managed in the past two decades. Granted Bill English did not get Queenstown and Arrowtown scooped up into his electorate until the electoral boundary changes in 2007 but to me he has always felt like a farmer lover who struggled to understand the entrepreneurship that shapes the Queenstown Lakes and who always had bigger fish to fry as a senior cabinet minister, than get his hands dirty representing us.
Rebeca Barnes, Armando Valotta, Bob Tovey and Jen Harper at the Queenstown Winter Festival Skycity Ball on Saturday. (Photo Supplied: Queenstown Winter Festival)
Credit where credit is due then for Todd Barclay. He was always available and enthusiastic in his assistance helping people like me as a local businessman and employer, and helping to further the cause of local organisations like the Arrowtown Promotion and Business Association. Not to mention that partnership Minister Bennett spoke about on Friday between local and central government. Now, thanks to the murky world of politics it is time to move on and regardless of our individual political leanings, the fact is the National Party candidate chosen to replace Todd Barclay will almost certainly be representing us after the next election. So safe is this seat.
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Such is the strength of National’s hold on Clutha-Southland they could put up a donkey for election and still win. Let’s hope they don’t. Let’s hope we get someone like Todd Barclay with enthusiasm and a willingness to take our concerns to parliament. We are at a critical turning point in the development of the Wakatipu and we need that central and local government partnership to work better than it has in the past. We need a representative in parliament who sees it our way and is willing to fight our corner. The last thing we need is a donkey. Scott Stevens scott@lwb.co.nz
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JOHN RAVENS WEATHER Last week John was 97% correct
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