National Party leader Christopher Luxon with Toby Whytock, 13, who wanted to know about co-governance and housing and his St Paul’s Collegiate Year Nine classmate Troy Poole. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
When someone from the crowd yelled out “he’s our future” and “let him speak”, Toby Whytock was quick to grab the microphone and put National Party leader Christopher Luxon on the spot at a public meeting in the Cambridge Town Hall on Monday night.
“Where do you stand on co-governance and I’ve read through your policies and while it’s great that you plan to build more houses, are you planning to build these on good productive food producing land or around more city centres?”
The 13-year-old St Paul’s Collegiate student from Puahue, midway between Cambridge and Te Awamutu, got a resounding reception from the 500 people present at the public meeting.
“All of you, do not give up on our young people because there I think we have a future member of parliament in Taupō,” Luxon said turning to the incumbent Louise Upston and telling her 2045 might be a good time for her to stand down in favour of Toby.
“We do not support co-governance in public services,” he told the Year Nine student.
Housing development would come in two ways – by building cities up and intensifying them, creating transport hubs and having dense areas with apartment blocks and “great places for young people to want to live.”
“We are going to need some greenfields development because roading and road networks enable and empower a whole bunch of housing development to happen. If we do SH29 from Tauranga to Hamilton and Southern Links – that’s about 18,000 houses when we put that roading system in. It opens up new areas and builds up new suburbs,” he said.
The top five percent of the country’s fertile, really important soils for growers, would be protected, he said.
Taupō MP Louise Upston welcomes the crowd of 500 to the Cambridge Town Hall public meeting watched by National Party leader Christopher Luxon. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
The meeting started with Upston who said she had a highlight for the crowd from earlier in the day revealing that at the launch of the National Transport for the Future policy, the Cambridge to Piarere extension was top of the list.
“Having had that road cancelled, it is now back on the list. Not only is it back on the list but we will start it in the next one to three years.”
Then to add to their delight, she said “back in page 28, in the longer term projects for investigation, is the third bridge for Cambridge.”
It was the perfect way to kick off the meeting.
Luxon said he was shocked to see so many people.
He acknowledged Upston, an “outstanding MP who knows the community so well.”
She advocated strongly for the Cambridge roading projects in the plan, he said.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon watched by Taupō MP Louise Upston during the Cambridge Town Hall public meeting. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Luxon went on to spell out his vision for New Zealand before taking questions from the floor.
They varied from a Cambridge High School science teacher asking if National would get serious about science in the curriculum, to challenges in the courts, delays in Resource Management Act consenting, mental health, vaccination mandates, gun measures, climate change, freedom of speech, lockdowns and road charges.
“I appreciate there will be answers I’ve given that some of you will say ‘no, I disagree with that strongly’ and I think in New Zealand we can actually find a way to disagree without being disagreeable, as my grandmother used to say.
“We want to maintain our civility.
“We have a great country, we can get it sorted, we can get it turned around and we can get it back on track,” said Luxon who mingled with the crowd before speaking to The News about the infrastructure announcements made earlier in the day.
“We want a four lane highway from Tauranga through Hamilton on the way to Auckland and up to Whangārei.”
The first two projects would be Cambridge to Piarere and Whangārei to Marsden Point – both in the first term.
SH29 Tauranga through to Hamilton would be next as would ways to navigate the Kaimai Ranges.
The $24 billion would be less than the $30 billion on Auckland light rail and provide a comprehensive transport plan, he said.
Southern Links – the $600 million transport network linking SH3 from Kahikatea Drive in Hamilton through to SH1 in Tamahere – would be back on, he said.
“That will create commercial, residential and industrial opportunities.”
Luxon would not be drawn on what role Upston would have in a National government. “She’s a critical part of our team and our focus is on winning the election.”
- Watch Video – Christopher Luxon speech, public meeting, Cambridge Town Hall, 31 July 2023
- Watch Video – Christopher Luxon, questions at public meeting, Cambridge Town Hall, 31 July 2023
It was standing room only at the public meeting in the Cambridge Town Hall. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Man for the job: Alam Topari of Cambridge, formerly of Indonesia, attended the public meeting and says Christopher Luxon will get New Zealand back on track. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon listens intently to St Paul’s Collegiate Year 9 schoolboys Toby Whytock, left, and Troy Poole, centre. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
