The general election is now just over a week away (Saturday October 17), and today the Wanaka App is profiling the Advance NZ candidate for Waitaki, Heather Meri Pennycook.

The Wanaka App asked the nine candidates one simple question: Please tell us what you think the top three issues facing the Wanaka region are, and how you would respond to them?

Here is Heather Meri’s response:

Lack of affordable housing and high living costs

Housing policy making home ownership possible for all Kiwis again (government equity scheme); changing caps for Kiwisaver Grant; addressing land banking and shortage that drives up housing prices; streamlining bureaucracy and compliance costs and facilitating quality affordable builds; Lower living costs – remove GST on food and medicine and work with locals to address/problem solve the other high living costs where possible.

Lack of employment opportunities

Our borders will be re-opened under our covid policy while our most vulnerable are protected, this opens up tourism/hospitality jobs again – and we will kickstart the economy and SME to 

encourage growth, including infrastructure projects to create jobs. 

Our focus is to see rural towns invigorated and revived, with thriving local communities who are actively involved in assessing needs and working together to fulfil these (reverse the centralisation of local governance and empower community governance).

Crippling of the farming industry under new regulations and the RMA

Repeal and rewrite ALL legislation that is crippling the farming industry – form a national body comprised of actual farmers, groups and independent environmental scientists to ensure robust consultation with the industry BEFORE legislation is passed; withdraw from the ETS and all foreign agreements and rules that have a negative impact on our farming industry; rewrite the RMA and create a separate AMA “Agricultural Management Act”; open the borders to allow essential workers in to the country ASAP.

Heather Meri grew up in Makarora and now lives in Wanaka. She has been a residential construction office manager, volunteer fire force chief, LANDSAR alpine tracker, Forest & Bird committee member, Makarora Valley Community Inc chair, and has volunteered with the homeless in Auckland. She has worked in several countries and many industries, from agriculture, horticulture, vintage aviation, export, hospitality, marketing, finance, as a rousie, firewood merchant, possuming, and more. She is currently doing part-time residential construction administration work.

Heather is standing for Advance NZ because she is passionate about the farming Industry and the small towns/rural communities in Waitaki which she says are “being strangled out of existence”. Her concerns include water standards, the UN Agenda 21, the government’s COVID response, 1080 and other toxins, gun legislation, and 5G.

PHOTO: Supplied