Many of you will recall that during last years election, NZRA asked each political party a series of question relating to Recreation, on topics ranging from DoC Concessions to Freshwater management to Sport NZ funding. You can read the questions and answers on our website. Now that the new Government ahs had time to settle in, we are working to hold the coalition partners to their commitments. In recent weeks, we have been writing letters to them drawing attention to the commitments and views they expressed during the election. We look forward to hearing back.

Since the last issue of Kaitiaki, Andrew Leslie (CEO) and Sam Newton (Advocacy Manager) have met with Opposition Spokesperson for Sport & Recreation. In that meeting, Nikki committed to a bi-partisan approach to improving Outdoor Recreation Policy and was extremely open to suggestions as to how the Outdoor Recreation sector might be better catered for. This was affirmed when Nikki spoke at the recent Outdoors Forum, where she fielded a wide range of questions from the audience. Andrew and Sam will be meeting with Minister Grant Robertson next week and will be presenting a suite of policy, regulatory and legislative improvements on behalf of the Outdoor Sector.