It’s been a week of milestones for East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick.

Wednesday marked one year since the new coalition Government was formed.

It was also her birthday.

“So, I got a coalition agreement for my birthday last year.”

This week also saw her new member’s bill added to the Parliamentary ballot.

The bill is intended to do away with a trivial law restricting serving of beverages, among other limitations, in hairdressers and barbers.

Capping it all – and the highlight of her year – was taking part in Tuesday’s parade to celebrate the Eastern Bay’s Olympic medalists.

Within her busy week, Mrs Kirkpatrick found time to catch up with the Beacon to discuss some of the issues facing the Eastern Bay – rates increases, the Treaty Principles Bill and investment in social services amongst them.

The past year had been one of steep learning curves in terms of Parliament and Parliamentary process and “the rules about the rules and the traditions that exist”, she said.

“The best part of it has been the work in the electorate. Meeting all the different businesses, the iwi organisations, the social services organisation, and seeing the incredible work that people do and that goes largely unnoticed most of the time.

“I always say to people ‘invite me to come’, and I’ll come and see what you do and hear your stories because that’s the best way to learn and to know what’s going on.

“I just love getting to know the community and trying to do my best with the challenges.”

It had been a hard year for many. In the Gisborne side of her electorate, she has been working hard in the cyclone recovery space.

"Here, I’ve done a lot of work with social services in terms of mental health and understanding how we can bring people together and provide better services. How do we get in front of issues we have, such as young people doing crime?

“We’ve been making progress in housing and in school attendance. People in the Eastern Bay and in Gisborne are so generous in terms of what they give in time and money because they know we need to do that.”

With rates affordability a key issue this year, Mrs Kirkpatrick said local councils needed to work together on shared services and strip back their budgets.

Asked what the Government was doing to fix the broken funding model for local government, she responded that ratepayers needed to look closely at what councils were doing.

“We’ve relaxed the rules on borrowing. There’s the regional infrastructure fund, there’s regional deals, but councils have to operate within the money they’ve got.

“There are a number of things they can do, and they can look to working toward to fill the void in terms of money. But the fact remains that they still need to be really careful about money and what the community can afford.

“It’s a balancing act, and we understand the funding model for local government has always been tricky. Because rates, particularly in areas like these where people can’t afford to pay high rates, and we have a small demographic from which to take the rates; it means it’s very difficult. And it’s like that across the electorate.

“Those conversations will continue across 2025, in terms of local government, around water, shared services, regional plans and regional infrastructure, and we will play a part in that picture.”

She said asset maintenance was critical and councils would be expected to work together to come up with the best plan for the region.

“That’s a big conversation they will be having among the three councils. They will be required to work together. The regional deal is predicated on a regional approach as opposed to a district approach.”

She said the Eastern Bay made a massive contribution to regional GDP.

“It needs to be supported, and it needs to be looked after. It’s a big part of our economic base. We want it to be thriving not stymied by a lack of affordability.”

She said if the community was not happy about how council funds were spent, it was up to them to change matters.

“There’s a (local) election next year. Only the community can decide; that’s the beauty of the democratic system. If the community wants lower rates and for their costs to be cut, then that’s what they should focus on in terms of their voting.

“We’re always very quick to blame the person in the firing line but every person of voting age in this community has a voice, and a vote.”

The Act Party’s Treaty Principals Bill is another issue that has struck a nerve nationally and locally.

Mrs Kirkpatrick said the National Party had always been very clear that it did not support the bill but was happy for a conversation to take place.

“It is an important issue for a lot of people. I think it’s a conversation we should have. It would be good for a lot of people to understand the modern context of what the Treaty Principles are, but I don’t think this is the way to do it.

“We think [the bill] is a blunt instrument approach to what is a delicate, complex conversation. If you’re going to have a conversation as important as Treaty Principles in a community like ours, you have it with iwi and Māori, not to them. If we were going to have that conversation, that is how we would do it.

“It’s the right thing to let people have this next part of the conversation through the select committee. But we are not voting for it beyond that, so it won’t pass.”

Looking forward to the coming year, the Government’s social investment strategy will be a focus.

“I really want to continue getting out into the community. There is a huge amount of money coming into the community in terms of social programmes. In Gisborne, they added it up. It’s $1.2 billion. I don’t think that calculation has been done in the Eastern Bay because it gets thrown in with the Bay of Plenty.

“What I’m really keen to understand over the next year is how are we delivering the best possible outcome for our people and making our money go as far as it can in those social areas.

“It’s important that as much of the money is spent on the front line as possible, instead of the back room.”