The by-election for Northland hit the road today after National's announcement to spend $69 million on fixing one-lane bridges in the region.
National's opponents are questioning the timing of the announcement.
Who better than the Minister of Economic Development as campaign chair for the National candidate.
Mark Osborne says, “Yes indeed it’s really good to have the support from members of the team and Mr Joyce is tremendous.”
Osborne's home looks down on Taipa Bridge, one of a number of one-lane bridges in the region that National has pledged to be fixed by government.
“Ten bridges right around the district. That's the important thing here and we need tehm we desperately need them. A lot of them are unsafe we need to open up the economic development. The fact that I live near one that's not my issue. The reality is the people of Taipa and surrounding areas will miss out just because I live there. That's not fair,” says Osborne.
Win or lose this by-election National pledges to spend in vicinity of $69 million to one-lane bridges in Northland like this one at Taipa.
A staff member on the local council Mark Osborne is passionate about pushing all initiatives that will benefit his home region.
Osborne says, “I've been through one pair of shoes already and looking forward to wearing out a few more. But listening and understanding that's important gaining trust and confidence as we go in and looking forward to carrying that on for the next three weeks.”
Steven Joyce says, “Oh absolutely we are going to do it and frankly my view is that Mark is going to win and one of the reasons he’s going to win is that people understand that if you have an MP in government they can do a lot more than an MP just yapping from the opposition and that's the distinction.”
The presence of Steven Joyce to lead the campaign signals that the competition for this electorate has just stepped up another notch.