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JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Nicola Grigg and National Party Leader Judith Collins visiting The Cat’s Pajamas nursery and preschool in Rolleston.
Selwyn MP Nicola Grigg used her keynote speech to pay tribute to her great-grandmother, who was National’s first MP.
Grigg told Parliament that Mary Grigg was elected to the Mid Canterbury seat held by her husband, “my great-grandfather Arthur,” after he was killed in action in Libya in 1941.
“Almost 80 years ago, this newly widowed mother of three stood in this chamber beating up the Fraser government over some of the same issues that have brought me here; agriculture, rural communities and women, ”Grigg said.
She “bombarded ministers” with questions about growing wheat, maternity benefits, the need for more radio broadcasts in Te Reo Māori and “even the lack of lemons available in Canterbury,” she said.
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Grigg told MPs that he “could only imagine what he would have done with his oldest great-grandson here today.”
After a career in journalism, Nicola Grigg worked as Sir Bill English’s press secretary from 2015 until he retired in 2018.
ROSE WOODS
Grigg at the General Assembly of the National Party in Te Papa in November 2020.
“I will always be grateful for the opportunities given to me to work in Bill’s office,” she said.
He also thanked his friends and colleagues from the National Party and acknowledged the help and support of former Ilam MP Gerry Brownlee, who lost his seat in the October elections.
“In particular, I would like to highlight and thank Gerry Brownlee for the unwavering friendship, generosity and guidance he has shown me over many years. It is because of your faith in me that I am here today. “
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ALDEN WILLIAMS / THINGS
Journalist Martin van Beynen and visual journalist Alden Williams travel through the seven electorates of Canterbury in an electric vehicle to get an idea of where the loyalty of the Cantabrians is for the 2020 elections.
Selwyn’s electorate comprises the rural communities west and south of Christchurch between the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers. It extends inland to Arthur’s Pass.
Grigg took a seat with a comfortable majority during last year’s election.
The daughter of six generations who have been farming in central Canterbury since 1864, she said she saw the “very real fear and anxiety” farmers faced while campaigning in the electorate last year.
She said Selwyn “represents everything that is special about New Zealand.”
“We are a region full of ambitious entrepreneurs,” he said.
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
Grigg says Selwyn is home to some of the nation’s leading agricultural science and technology innovators.
“We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, one of the strongest local economies and one of the fastest growing land authorities in New Zealand.
“Selwyn is an example for the rest of the country.”
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John Kirk-Anderson / Stuff
Selwyn MP Nicola Grigg – thumbnail image
– Things
