While excited about how Hutt Valley?s schools have benefited from a recent $41 million government allocation, Mr Quinn hopes to address other areas in the near future.
By Tim O?Connell
The Petone Herald caught up with Hutt South?s other Parliamentary representative Paul Quinn and found him busy with constituents? needs and office hunting. Mr Quinn says that although his first few months as an MP have been ?a steep learning curve?, he believes that much has been done already in terms of furthering the issues facing the Hutt. Aside from the Hutt Valley Police review and National?s recent announcement of funding for community law centres in the area, Mr Quinn has been involved with promoting the key areas of health and education in the previous weeks. While excited about how Hutt Valley?s schools have benefited from a recent $41 million government allocation, Mr Quinn hopes to address other areas in the near future. ?We?ve got 3000 people who can?t register with a GP because there?s a shortage of them, and I recently had a client who had an important operation pushed back at short notice. ?These are frontline issues-clinical areas that we need to keep working on,? he said. Being a representative of the governing party may be a factor in his constituents seeking his help he doesn?t believe it is the sole reason for them doing so. ?I think we?ve made a lot of progress and I?ve been receiving 100 per cent satisfaction from people so far. ?I don?t normally have people coming in telling me why they came to see me in particular, but I think perhaps being an MP associated with the Government places me in a position where I can be of assistance to them.? Mr Quinn is closer to finding a permanent office to serve constituents and it will probably be in the centre of Lower Hutt. ?I did have a look at one property on the Esplanade in Petone, but that was going to be too expensive, and also one in Moera. ?Tentatively, we?re in negotiations for getting hold of a prominent spot, which is likely to be in Hutt City.?
