Our thoughts are with the family of Aisling Symes

The death of Aisling Symes has affected families throughout New Zealand, including many from within our patch - with parents now hugging their children a little bit tighter.

Aisling, a bright and bubbly two-year-old - with a love of ducklings - captured the heart of New Zealanders as volunteers from far and wide flocked to the West Auckland search area to assist in trying to find the little girl.

The grief being felt by her parents, her sister and the rest of her family, friends and loved ones is being shared in the heart of every New Zealander - particularly those who joined in the search for the little girl.

To help break through the language barrier between police and some local residents in the search area, I went out alongside Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Melissa Lee and a team of Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Korean speaking volunteers to join the search.

We knocked on doors in the eight street search area and talked with residents in the language they were most comfortable with. I ended up as an interpreter for the Police while visiting a couple of the households.

We also translated the police poster and description of an Asian woman the police hoped could assist them into Chinese, Korean and Punjabi languages for bi-lingual posters, which we distributed to businesses in the area and hung up on the windows of shops.

Thank you to all the volunteers and business owners who worked so hard to assist in trying to find Aisling.

Diwali brings light to tsunami survivors

The first Diwali celebrations in New Zealand kicked off in Manukau last Saturday, with many coming to the Telstra Pacific Events Centre to enjoying the bright and vibrant celebration of Indian culture.

Celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs, Diwali is known as the festival of light and the wonderful colours provided warmth against the cold, wet backdrop that the weather provided for the festive celebrations.

People's hearts were also warmed by fundraising efforts during the Diwali celebrations to raise money for the victims of the tsunami in Samoa and Tonga.

Throughout these celebrations, acknowledgements were also made to our neighbouring Asian countries - Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam - suffering in the wake of the recent typhoon and earthquakes.

Many people expressed their approval at the quick and effective response of the Government in providing aid to countries affected by the tsunami, typhoon and earthquakes and also of the goodwill of our communities, who continue to fundraise and collect goods for those affected.

It is this ability for all people from within our extended community to come together to help people in need that truly makes it a pleasure to be the MP for Botany.

Valuing our seniors

I have had the privilege of visiting two retirement homes - Vision Dannemora Retirement Complex and Lansdowne Residential Hospital - in our patch this month and have had a ball meeting with some of our senior, or "golden", residents.

It was a delight to meet with a group of people with so much pride in our patch and whose daughters, sons and grandchildren continue to blossom in Botany.

The National Party has three priorities for our senior citizens:

Employment - many people choose to continue working past the retirement of 65, which not only has economic benefits, but is also a means of keeping elderly people connected with the community.

Changing attitudes - our contribution and value to society don't end when we stop working and it is important that the contribution that older people continue to make is valued and recognised.

Preventing elder abuse and neglect - like all New Zealanders, our elderly people deserve to live free from harm and fear and that is why we have committed $1.5 million a year to nationally co-ordinate and improve elder abuse and neglect prevention services.

Our elderly community is the heart and soul of Botany and those I met with seemed interested and concerned about a number of issues and it was fantastic to be able to address their concerns.

It was also good to be able to reassure them that Prime Minister Hon John Key is committed to keeping the retirement age at 65 - standing up in the Parliament earlier this year and saying he would resign if our government ever raised the age.