Waikato elections 2023: Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger on the challenge ahead

Nine Waikato electorates were contested at this month’s election. Waikato Herald invited MPs elected in those electorates to answer questions about their goals for the next Parliamentary term.

Name: Barbara Kuriger

Age: 63

I live in: Te Awamutu and New Plymouth

In your opinion, what is your electorate’s most urgent challenge and how are you going to tackle it?

Removing red tape from small businesses and farmers in order for them to focus on productivity. We have become an over-bureaucratic can’t-do country, rather than the No 8 wired nation that we used to be. This will require a range of legislative changes which we are committed to as a party.

Which part about representing your electorate are you most looking forward to in the next term?

Community, community, community! I do this role because our rural communities are very important to me. From health and social services to infrastructure, like connectivity and roads, we need to uphold the standards for those who choose to live rurally and remotely.

What are your personal goals as an MP?

To continue to be available, actively contributing to improving the lives of those I represent. To advocate hard for the electorate and all rural/provincial New Zealanders, creating change where I can. Value the ways our economy and our environment are able to work in harmony. To work constructively with all NZ’s representatives in Parliament to find the best solutions to our challenges.

What will change for your electorate now that you are in Government?

We will have more access to ministers allowing more ability to advocate for the needs of Taranaki King Country. A good example of this was the Mt Messenger / Awakino bypass projects started by National under John Key. I am looking forward to ensuring that we focus on getting Southern Links out of Hamilton done so that infrastructure needs adjust focus from what is traditionally the “golden triangle” to a “diamond” view of the upper North Island where the western areas are valued more.

About

Kuriger, now in her fourth term, had a lengthy career in dairy farming and agribusiness. She is a former board member of DairyNZ, Dairy Women’s Network and NZ Young Farmers. Married to Louis, she is mum to three children - two sons and a daughter - and grandmother to six.

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Waikato elections 2023: Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger on the challenge ahead

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