Rangitata MP Jo Goodhew is losing no time in taking on the new territory in her electorate. Other than a day spent in Wellington at a caucus meeting to farewell retiring MPs and welcome 16 new MPs, she has been consolidating her base in Timaru and making plans for a new office in Ashburton.
‘‘The election campaign starts the day after you are elected,'' she said.
‘‘The fact is you know you'll be judged and the party is judged on how well you do your job as an electorate MP. My initial goal is to get myself set up with an Ashburton office and have a staff member there. That's the framework that's necessary to deliver our services. The population is now distinctly in two areas - Timaru and Ashburton.''
She said she planned to set in place the same networks she had established in Timaru, whereby she had regular meetings with community leaders to keep in touch with issues.
‘‘It may be that I send letters of introduction to get them to get in touch with me,'' she said.
Mrs Goodhew saw access to government services as one of the main issues facing people in the electorate. Mid and South Canterbury had not yet seen the recession effects that were becoming evident elsewhere, but they could be on their way.
‘‘If we have the predicted redundancies that we're seeing in other parts of the country we can help people access assistance when the bottom falls out of their world.''
During her first term, when she was an opposition MP, her policy areas were aged care and rural health, but she is not sure what party leader and Prime Minister-elect John Key had in mind for her.
Mrs Goodhew said she wanted to take this opportunity to thank readers of The Courier for their support at the election.
‘‘I'm humbled by the personal vote. People have shown faith in me and I'm grateful and I intend to work hard to justify that faith.
‘‘It's been a team effort, from the local office and the National Party helping me win party votes and without those hundreds of people helping it couldn't have happened.''
Mrs Goodhew also expressed her thanks to her family: her parents, husband Mark and their three daughters.
‘‘It would not be possible without their support. It's not an easy job in terms of demands on your time, but I love my job because there's so many different ways you get to interact with people.''
Meanwhile, Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean said she attended her first meeting of the new National Party caucus feeling like a ‘‘senior'' pupil rather than a third former.
She was returned for her second term as MP and was ‘‘thrilled to bits'' with her majority of 10,176.
‘‘It was strange going to the first caucus meeting in Wellington, seeing 10 or 11 new MPs and remembering what it was like three years ago, how nervous and excited I was, and how it felt like the first day at school,'' Mrs Dean said.
‘‘I felt very much like a third former. As a second term MP, I don't feel like a prefect but more like a senior school pupil.''
She hoped doors would ‘‘open a little further to me'' as a government MP and said she planned to follow through on the issues she campaigned about.
These included access to health services for rural people, special education funding, taking a closer look at the tenure review process and immigration issues as they related to seasonal workers.
‘‘It is business as usual, although I'm rather hoping that I'll be able to be more effective as a government MP.''
