August has been another highly productive month getting around Tauranga and advocating for our community, here and in Wellington. Your National led government continues to focus on the key things need to make New Zealand the best small country in the world: reducing the cost of living, making our communities safer, improving healthcare services and lifting education standards for our children.
As we look back at August there’s been a lot of great news for Tauranga residents.
It was great to have Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk in Tauranga in August. He has announced a significant change to streamline building consents, clearing blockages in the system to make it easier and more affordable to build. And having all councils follow one building code will help home owners, builders and contractors work faster and more efficiently. Instead of having ratepayers funding council payouts for defective work, and therefore causing risk aversion at consent level, joint/several liability will be replaced by proportionate liability with each party involved only responsible for the share of work they carry out.
We’re also going to see more competition in the energy market so New Zealanders can access more affordable electricity. Energy Minister Simon Watts is welcoming a new rule by the Electricity Authority to ensure a level playing field where the same generation rates are offered to all retailers. This will level the playing field by giving smaller companies a better chance to compete and will mean Kiwi consumers have more choices.
Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis announced upcoming changes to improve supermarket competition, including fast track approval for new supermarkets that would improve competition, streamline building consent processes, amend Building Act regulations to pre-approve multi-proof building plans, clarify the pathways available for grocery investments, amend the Commerce Act to better combat predatory pricing and look at improved options for importing new product lines to New Zealand.
Mortgage savings are here. The Government’s responsible economic management is making a difference. Taking the pressure off inflation has allowed the Reserve Bank to lower the OCR when it needs to be adjusted. Interest rates are down 2.5% since National took the lead in Government. Lower interest rates support businesses to expand and grow, support increased construction activity, create jobs and put more money in people’s pockets. The falling OCR means repayments on a 25-year $500,000 floating mortgage are about $330 less a fortnight today than they were a year ago. That makes a big difference to the family budget and, as more mortgages come up for refinancing, more households will benefit. About 40 per cent of fixed mortgages are due to come up for repricing in the next six months.
Access to more Learning Support Coordinators in the Bay of Plenty is great news for Tauranga, giving schools the tools to support students sooner. Right now, 21,503 children have this support, but by 2028, every Year 1–8 student in the region – approximately 39,110 kids – will have access to this support. This means more children will get the help they need to thrive and succeed in their learning.
Fast growing Tauranga and the Western Bay will benefit from a new Omanawa bridge on SH29 with the $42m contract awarded to HEB Construction this week. This new bridge will be better able to cope with floods and aid in transporting heavier freight loads to the Port of Tauranga. Phase 2 of the Takitimu North Link is in the contracting process currently and will include a mixture of upgrades and 4-laning from Redwood Interchange to Barkes Corner.
It was great to join my colleague Katie Nimon in Napier. We started the morning with SuperBlues, shared updates, and then visited Future Products Group in Onekawa, a world-class business right here in our backyard. With more than 100 staff, they design and build food display solutions used by McDonald’s, BP, Air New Zealand and more. An incredible example of local innovation making a global impact. Of course, Katie let me know she was in the ‘real’ Bay!
Wonderful to support the Evergreen House opening. Well done and thank you to Te Puke Baptist Church and Tauranga Community Housing Trust for providing six lovely new homes to the lucky recipients. Community housing projects delivering for the community!
It was a pleasure to host Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Tauranga for the 2025 Zespri Aims Games. This annual event brings together more than 12,000 intermediate students for Australasia’s largest junior sporting event and is a major occasion for Tauranga families, businesses and accommodation providers. Thank you to everyone who hosted our visiting schools and did their part to show all the participants a great time in our city.
Please help highlight the importance of rail safety to children. They need to remove distractions like headphones, always stop, look and listen, and hop off their bike, board or scooter before crossing rail lines. Stay Off, Stay Safe: This Rail safety video by Tauranga students highlights crossing dangers, hosted by the NZ Herald.
I enjoyed visiting a number of Tauranga retirement and lifestyle villages in August.
I went to Greenwood Park Retirement Village in Welcome Bay with Tom Rutherford MP for Bay of Plenty. Then it was to Radius Matua where we talked about the Retirement Villages Act review, which I know is a concern for many.
The review is exploring three areas: faster capital repayments when exiting a village, clearer responsibilities for maintenance and repairs, and a stronger complaints and disputes process. A bill is expected to be introduced in 2026.
I visited the new Tauranga City Council water treatment plant in Te Puke and really appreciated seeing the state-of-the-art facility. This impressive site, Waiāri, opened in 2023, helps meet the water demands of Papamoa and Mount Maunganui and is expected to continue meeting the region’s needs for at least thirty years.
I joined the local community in Te Puna, which is very strongly opposed to a proposed container park in their area. Great to chat with the locals and hear all the horns, toots and support!
Tranzliquid Logistics celebrated 25 years in business, and created hundreds of jobs, delivered truckloads of fuel and kept our economy going.
Awesome to be there to celebrate with Greg, Jackie and the team in Tauranga. Here’s to the next 25 years.
The New Zealand Dental Association celebrated 120 years and the release of their roadmap, Towards Better Oral Health for New Zealand 2025-2030. Dentists play vital roles in our communities and for promoting oral health for all New Zealanders, which is crucial to our overall health and fundamental to our ability to eat, smile and connect with others. The government is committed to providing children and young people with the best start in life and helping those New Zealanders for whom the financial cost of access and care is a barrier.
Additionally, I hosted the NZ Dental Association at Parliament when they launched Oral Health Roadmap 2025–2030: A vision to improve New Zealanders’ poor oral health. Roadmap Towards Better Oral Health for New Zealand 2025–2030, is a bold, evidence-based strategy to lift the oral health of all New Zealanders. This landmark document outlines a comprehensive plan to address persistent inequities, focus on prevention policies, improve access to care, and embed oral health as a fundamental component of general health and wellbeing.
What’s better, kiwifruit or dairy?! Answer… both are incredible and delivering prosperity to our regions. It was a pleasure to show my friend Barbara Kuriger, MP for King Country. around our growing city. We chatted with National members, ate a delicious kebab at Turkish To Go on Devonport Road, visited Seekanz and Fertco. Well done Seeka on an outstanding year, huge volumes coming through and a fantastic, family style team environment! Thank you Fertco for showing us around your business and as always to our loyal members for your hard work and support!
The National Party’s Annual General Meeting was held in Christchurch. We had a fantastic AGM, one of the best yet according to many of our members. Tauranga’s own Andrew von Dadelszen was elected as a member of the Board – well done Andrew!
I attended the Tauranga Career Expo at Mercury Bay Park. This is held annually to showcase opportunities available to young people for their future career paths.
I attended Steamers v Canterbury at Tauranga Domain – unfortunately it wasn’t our day but a great atmosphere and occasion nevertheless. The Steamers came so close in the NPC last year and it was great to get along there with my dad and daughter, and around 5000 loyal locals, to support the men in blue and gold hoops!
I Hosted AI Caucus in Parliament with TUANZ and Datacom. We’re working hard to expand AI literacy and acceptance across Parliament so we can utilise the efficiency gains and manage associated concerns. We have been hosting these quarterly at Parliament and getting a number of experts in the AI field to come upskill Parliamentarians.
Every six months or so I have morning tea with the Tauranga Men’s Shed. These groups around NZ provide much needed salvation for retired men to stay on the tools, spend time with mates and work on mending and building things. It’s really useful for their overall wellbeing.
I hosted Movember in Parliament with Minister of Health, Hon Simeon Brown. Movember do a huge amount of advocacy for men’s mental health, suicide prevention and testicular health. It was a great turnout and there is widespread support across Parliament for them.
One of my favourite aspects of being the MP for Tauranga is connecting with constituents and businesses. Pictured above are the SPCA Shop in Greerton, Dominion Salt at the Mount, Tui Homes in Greerton and Patrick’s Pies in Bethlehem. If you’d like to show me what you do for work, I would love visit and hear about what you’re doing and what challenges I may be able to help you resolve.
Monthly Coffee Catch-up at Le Chat Noir
We held another monthly drop-in at Le Chat Noir in Greerton. These are casual opportunities for locals to share ideas, raise concerns or just have a chat. I will be there on the first Monday of each month, from 12–1:30pm*, and I welcome you to join me at the next one.
*Excluding Public Holidays
Calling all businesses!
I'd love to get out into our community and meet with more of the businesses in Tauranga. It's important that I hear directly from you about the biggest issues facing your business - or to help celebrate your successes with others.
Get in touch with my team - it's easy 07 577 0923 or email sam.uffindell@parliament.govt.nz
Thank you for taking the time to read my update. If you’re eager to make a meaningful contribution and support our vision for a better future, I invite you to join the National Party. As a member, you’ll not only have a voice in shaping our policies but also gain access to exclusive member events and opportunities to participate in party activities. Together, we can work towards creating positive change in our community.
To get started, simply email us at tauranga@national.org.nz and we’ll guide you through the process of becoming a member.
September is already shaping up to be another month of strong progress.
I’m looking forward to connecting with more of you, hearing what matters most and continuing to work hard for our city.
As always, a heartfelt thank you to the people of Tauranga who are out there every day building a good life for themselves and their families. To our local National Party members – your dedication on the ground makes all the difference. I’m truly grateful for your support.
Sam Uffindell | MP for Tauranga
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