National Party president Peter Goodfellow made his first visit to Tauranga since becoming the party's new president in August last year.
He attended a coffee meeting in Bethlehem and a luncheon in town with Tauranga National Party members.
Peter considers his Tauranga visit as an important opportunity to connect with local members and receive their feedback about the party.


National Party president Peter Goodfellow with Tauranga MP Simon Bridges outside No 1 The Strand, one of Tauranga's oldest buildings. See video below.

'It's about getting feedback from our 300 members and ensuring our message gets out to them, that we work with caucus and influence them and make sure we have a strong set of policies for the election next year.”
A key part of Peter's role as president is to raise money for the National Party, which he says is currently building its 'war chest” for next year's election.
'We are enjoying good popular support, so we have good strong finances but it's a job of mine to raise money for the election campaign so I'm busy doing that this year rather than next year.”

Peter also talked to SunLive on camera about how well Tauranga MP Simon Bridges is performing, the importance of Tauranga to the National Party and the changing face of the Tauranga electorate.