On Budget day I’m sure many of our local residents will have been keenly calculating the value of the tax cuts dished out by the National-led government. No doubt their initial excitement would have worn off by the time they worked out that any benefit they were getting from a few extra dollars in the pocket each week wouldn’t even come close to compensating them for the increase in the cost of living they are going to face.

This year’s Budget is one of broken promises and missed opportunities. The biggest broken promise is John Key’s about-face on increasing GST. Before the last election he said that National wouldn’t increase GST because if they did a “halfway decent job’ of managing the economy it wouldn’t be necessary. It seems a year and a half is a long time in politics – they just hiked GST up to 15 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins is urging Hutt Valley residents to come along and have their say at this week’s public meeting on the future of Adult and Community Education (ACE). Read the rest of this entry »

The recent increase in Hutt Valley crime rates highlights the need for stability in our local policing, Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins says. Read the rest of this entry »

There aren’t many issues that have dominated political discussion in recent years as often as tax cuts. It seems in these tougher economic times we’re all keen to keep a little bit more in our own pockets. That’s understandable, but as recent weeks have shown, the money to pay for tax cuts has to come from somewhere.

Throughout the election campaign the National Party promised New Zealanders that it could deliver much larger tax cuts than Labour had promised without cutting public services and without leaving anyone worse off. Their track record to date suggests that was a promise they had no intention of keeping. Read the rest of this entry »

Allowing a private firm to run Rimutaka prison would lead to cost cutting and could seriously compromise public safety Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins says.

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The Government’s plan to replace regional fuel taxes with increases in national fuel excise and road user charges is unfair on Hutt Valley people who now have to share the cost of electrifying Auckland’s rail system, says Chris Hipkins, MP for Rimutaka. Read the rest of this entry »

Education Minister Anne Tolley must act now to ensure the $30 million she has promised to four Upper Hutt Schools is actually delivered, says Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins. Read the rest of this entry »

Hutt Valley residents will be disappointed to learn that Police Minister Judith Collins is refusing to guarantee that the number of police working in the Hutt will not decrease as a result of the proposed merger of the Lower and Upper Hutt Police Districts, Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins says. Read the rest of this entry »

Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins and Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy launched a petition opposing the merger of the Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt police districts last week. The pair met outside the Upper Hutt police station to be the first to put their signatures to the petition, which is being circulated around the community via email and can be downloaded from the internet.

“We hope that this petition will send a clear signal to the Wellington District Police Commander that Upper Hutt people will not tolerate any merger. We do not want to see our police station downgraded and we want to ensure that Upper Hutt gets its fair share of the extra police that the new National government have promised,” Chris Hipkins said. Read the rest of this entry »

Rimutaka MP Chris Hipkins is deeply concerned that the new National government appears ready to cut funding for public transport in order to fund its roading plans. Read the rest of this entry »