A gathering of just 11 people attended a public meeting in the Earnscleugh Hall this week to hear New Zealand First List MPs Jamie Arbuckle and Andy Foster speak about their coalition achievements.

Jamie also hopped on an e-bike (thanks to Tourism Central Otago), on a cold four degrees day, and went for a quick ride down the Roxburgh Gorge Trail.

The reason for the Earnscleugh location was also to connect with local orchardists. Jamie is a grower in Marlborough and a strong advocate for the horticulture industry.

“It’s all about getting out in the grass roots of our communities,” he said.

With six portfolios including deputy chair of the Justice Committee, Jamie, the ‘party whip’, is also responsible for organising the New Zealand First party caucus. He also spent five terms on the Marlborough District Council.

He was interested in hearing about the challenges for local growers and what the government’s target of doubling exports would mean for the horticulture industry.

Jamie said he believed the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme needs to be more streamlined and improved, as does market accessibility, and said he understood the frustrations of pricing between corporate versus family growers.

New Zealand currently has 190,000 job seekers and - like Prime Minister Christopher Luxon - Jamie was all about encouraging participation in the growth of the economy.

But in the horticulture industry where a lot of the work was physical, there was still the risk of growers having to be babysitters, which was a challenge, he said.

Andy is the former mayor of Wellington and spent two years as a city councillor. He explained that New Zealand First was the only party where all the MPs were list MPs.

He chairs the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, and his other portfolios include housing, conservation, education and civil defence.

“I’ve always been interested in economic development… we need to get the economy moving.”

The pair also visited Timaru before heading south to Alexandra.