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As you read this I will be in Toronto attending a conference.
Last week I was in Rome and was extremely privileged to have been granted an audience with the Pope in the Vatican. I was doubly privileged to have been blessed by him. It was a truly awesome and moving experience.
I was in Rome to represent New Zealand at the first World Conference of Women Parliamentarians for the Protection of Children and Young Persons, which was held over two days.
I voted in favour of the final declaration document and have been appointed the Oceania representative of women parliamentarians for the protection of children and young persons, which is a great honour indeed.
In Toronto I was guest of honour at a Native Women's conference and was given the opportunity to speak on my life experiences, including my time as mayor of Carterton and as Wairarapa's Member of Parliament.
This was a great chance to inform a new audience of the magnificence of our country, Wairarapa in particular, and encourage new visitors to our area.
I was very happy with the way I was received and hope to see some of the attendees here in the future.
Wairarapa households had every reason to celebrate this Labour Day as statistics show they are earning much more.
Local figures from Statistics NZ reveal the average gross weekly household income in the Wellington region rose by 16.1 percent between 1999 and 2003 - up from $1128 a week in 1999 to $1310 last year.
Household incomes for Wellington are up by $182 a week in the first four years of this government. That's serious money for local families, and everyone's sharing the benefits of strong economic growth.
The lowest paid workers - the 30,000 people across the country on the minimum wage - have seen their hourly rate increase by 29 percent to $9 for adults and by over 70 percent for youth to $7.20.
Average individual incomes in Wellington are also up over the same period from $523 in 1999 to $607 last year - a 16.1 percent rise.
Driving the bigger pay packets has been plummeting unemployment, down to 17-year lows, matched by solid jobs growth.
Steady increases in jobs and incomes, combined with strong economic growth, put the lie to the dire predictions of opposition groups in 2000 about the Labour-led government's workplace reforms.
The Employment Relations Act encourages better workplace communication. Industrial action is at historically low levels - 28 stoppages nationally last year, compared with 72 under the high tide of the Employment Contracts Act in 1996.
Work/life balance improvements include Paid Parental Leave. This Labour Day was the first public holiday affected by changes to the new Holidays Act, meaning those who worked must get penal rates - but not if they ring in sick.
Most of these improvements - not forgetting the fourth week of annual leave for everyone from 2007 - would be clawed back by ACT-National if they ever got elected.
They want to take a holiday - yours.
My hearty congratulations to Denise MacKenzie, Labour's new Wairarapa candidate. My full support will be behind her and I am looking forward to fighting a hard campaign with her over the coming year.
My commiserations to other two contenders, Bob Francis and Ian Dunwoodie, and my thanks to them for putting themselves forward.
I am grateful Labour was able to attract such a high calibre of candidate.
My thanks to Ruth Dyson for taking the time to visit Dannevirke's Grey Power meeting last week and my sincere sympathies to all members on the death of your president David Ormandy. I met David on several occasions and his loss is a sad blow.
I have been told that Ruth's visit was very successful and she managed to cover most of her portfolios while she was there. It was also the first time Denise MacKenzie attended a function as Wairarapa's Labour candidate.
On November 3 Health Minister Annette King will be in Masterton to speak at the sod-turning ceremony for the new $30 million hospital and I am sorry I am not able to attend.
This new hospital is a real feather in Wairarapa's cap and will provide certainty of health services into the future.
This is a real change from the struggle our health system had under the National government.
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