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This year our electorate has seen a huge commitment by this Government in the form of extra funding for services such as rail, roading and health.
February saw a new Heartlands Service Centre opened in Pahiatua, serving the Tararua district.
It has restored face-to-face contact with 12 government agencies (ACC; Career Services; Child, Youth and Family; Community Employment Group; Housing New Zealand Corporation; Internal Affairs; Inland Revenue; the Māori Land Court; the Ministry of Justice; Te Puni Kokiri; Tenancy Services and Work and Income).
The Centre cements the Government's manifesto commitment to bring government agencies back to New Zealand's small towns and I heartily welcomed the establishment of the Centre, as it meets a real community need.
Until now accessing government services from South Tararua has been an expensive and time consuming exercise with people either having to travel to larger towns or make toll calls.
Establishing the Centre was very much a co-operative exercise involving Tararua Mayor Maureen Reynolds, Carolyn Barrell from Rangitane o Tamaki Nui-a-Rua, the Pahiatua and Eketahuna Community Boards, and Woodville District Vision.
In March the Masterton Secondary Schools Learning and Behaviour Service at Makoura College was granted $10,000 for a new study support centre to focus on homework, computer skills and Māori culture.
It's really important that children gain good study skills and habits before they reach secondary school but many children's home circumstances do not support this for a range of reasons.
This centre should help redress that.
In July Health Minister Annette King approved Masterton District Council's grant application under the Government's Sanitary Works Subsidy Scheme for $2.16 million towards a new sewage scheme for Riversdale.
Health risks will increase unless something is done about local sewage systems, which clearly aren't coping with the needs of a growing population. So a government subsidy is essential.
Also in July nine schools in Wairarapa were granted a total of $820,000 in funding to upgrade their school properties.
The schools were the last in the Wairarapa electorate to join a five-year programme that gives certainty to non-integrated state schools about how much they can spend on school buildings and grounds.
This programme enables Akitio, Carterton, Featherston, Gladstone, Kahutara, Makuri, Papatawa, and South Featherston schools, and O Tamaki Nui A Rua to upgrade existing property, with access to funding from July this year.
The Government's commitment to high education standards means making sure there's opportunity for all students to have modern, up-to-date and enjoyable places to learn.
There's the more than $4 million in funding to allow an earlier than scheduled start on replacing the Waiohine Bridge near Greytown.
The project, which was not initially going to be funded to start until next financial year, has been granted $4.12m, by the Transfund board.
The initial budget for replacing the bridge was $2.4m but the new figure is $4.42m, with Wairarapa local authorities and the Greater Wellington Regional Council providing $300,000 to improve waterway capacity under the bridge.
My thanks again to the work put into this project by the Hill Road Committee and all those who have lobbied for many years to have the existing bridge replaced.
And of course there are the refurbished carriages for Wairarapa train services.
Last week $10.6 million in government funding for new rolling stock for the Wairarapa train services was announced, which will be added to $15.85 million being provided for the project by Transfund.
The complete replacement of the current 18 carriages is expected to take 18 months and, as a former regular user of the rail service, I'm sure will welcomed by all those who travel on the Wairarapa line.
Wairarapa District Health Board also received formal approval to go ahead with plans for a completely new hospital for Masterton to be built on the vacant field in front of the existing hospital, worth $30 million.
The $27.2 million already agreed to for the refurbishment of the existing hospital was never in doubt, but with the extra $2.3 million, the DHB now has the opportunity to create a hospital that will last well into the future, with minimal disruption to patients, visitors and staff.
Ultimately, we'll have a hospital at the cutting edge of technology, which will still be fully functional after a major seismic event.
Given our potential isolation in the event of a major disaster, this is a huge step forward for health services in our region.
All this is added to the establishment of PHOs, lower prescription charges, extra funding for education programmes (such as Gateway and literacy), laptops for teachers, more young people taking up extra training opportunities, lower unemployment and government help for those affected by this year's devastating floods.
I'm pleased to be part of a Government that makes this kind of commitment to Wairarapa.
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