New MP hits the ground running

Rangitata’s new MP has not had a lot of time to celebrate Saturday’s success.

National’s James Meager romped home on election night with 57.5% of the vote, well ahead of incumbent Labour MP Jo Luxton.

Mr Meager received 20,140 votes for the Rangitata seat, while Mrs Luxton polled 10,570.

And while confident the hard yards he and his team of supporters had put in over the past 12 to 18 months in the electorate — ‘‘acting as if you are the MP already’’ — would result in a win, even he admitted he was not expecting such an overwhelming result.

The diary has been packed ever since.

Saturday night was election night, watching the results, responding to messages and dropping people safely home.

Sunday he joined Mrs Luxton at Timaru’s Seafarers’ Service, and then had a supporters’ thank you barbecue in Temuka, followed by a promised visit to the Hinds Tavern.

‘‘They didn’t think I’d come back, so I’d told them if I was elected, I would be there at 5pm the day after election day.’’

Come Monday, and Mr Meager was on an early flight to Wellington and Parliament for a week of induction.

And while the 36-year-old might be a new MP, he is not as new to Parliament as some; his background includes working there for a number of National MPs.

He will be back in the electorate next week, and is already identifying issues he is keen to get behind.

Looming large is the need for a second Ashburton River bridge, and, further south, he is keen to get behind the Scott Base rebuild in Timaru and get some assurances from Antarctic New Zealand and construction company Leighs that it will be going ahead.

‘‘And the third one, I’m keen to see growth in the region. Population statistics show Ashburton has had a population growth of 42% over the last 25 years, while in Timaru it has been 11%.

‘‘That puts us at risk of falling behind, and missing out on big growth opportunities.’’

There are practicalities to deal with too, such as office spaces to explore in both Timaru and Ashburton to ensure he is as accessible as possible to his constituents.

He sees potential to work alongside newly elected Waitaki MP Miles Anderson, whose geographically huge electorate borders Rangitata.

Mr Meager paid his respects to Mrs Luxton’s work over the past three years as Rangitata’s electorate MP.

‘‘Being an MP is not an easy job — you work your butt off, you’re away from home and your family.’’

He hoped she would be able to remain an advocate for the electorate as a Labour list MP, he said.

‘‘It would be good to have additional support in the electorate.’’

He could not be happier with Saturday night’s result — both locally and nationally, Mr Meager said.

‘‘Thank you to the voters of Rangitata for turning out and exercising your right to vote, and for supporting me and having the confidence in having me as your MP.’’