In an interview with Webfit News, Napier’s National MP discussed the limits of flood protection, the case for stronger regional healthcare and her ambition to give young people...
In an interview with Webfit News, Napier’s National MP discussed the limits of flood protection, the case for stronger regional healthcare and her ambition to give young people careers worth staying for.
By Webfit News | 15 October 2026
For some Hawke’s Bay communities, the distance between everyday life and isolation is still one severe weather event.
Napier MP Katie Nimon acknowledged that vulnerability in an interview with Webfit News, saying the region’s recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle must strengthen the roads, bridges and services people depend on, while recognising that flood risk cannot be removed entirely.
“They are really just one storm away from being completely cut off,” she said of communities whose access to healthcare, education and other services depends on vulnerable connections.
The National MP described a region rebuilding infrastructure while also trying to create a stronger economic future. Her priorities were reliable transport, access to healthcare and industry growth that gives residents, particularly young people, more reasons to stay.
Her comments also exposed a difficult distinction for communities recovering from disaster: better protection does not necessarily mean complete safety.
Nimon said Cyclone Gabrielle had revealed weaknesses in regional infrastructure and the isolation experienced by some settlements.
She argued the response should improve what existed before the cyclone, rather than simply replace damaged assets.
That meant higher and wider bridges, more resilient roads, and greater consideration of where housing and flood protection infrastructure should be located.
But she acknowledged that the improvements came after devastating loss, including deaths, and that some communities were still struggling with damage and the costs of recovery.
Nimon pointed to Whirinaki, north of Napier, as an example of the tension between expectations and what flood protection can deliver.
She said some residents had expected new protection works to remove their flood risk, only to discover that a level of risk would remain.
The challenge, she suggested, was explaining what infrastructure could realistically achieve while responding to people who wanted confidence that their homes and families would be safe.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council identifies the Whirinaki project as a combination of residential and industrial stopbanks and improved drainage.
For residents, the practical questions extend beyond whether construction is taking place. They include what level of protection the finished works provide and what households should do when that protection is tested.
Nimon’s emphasis on transport reflects both her electorate work and her upbringing.
She grew up in a transport family, accompanying her father and uncle on truck journeys and later working in the family bus business.
Those experiences, she said, helped her understand how roads connect businesses, communities and the movement of essential goods.
In rural areas, road reliability affects school journeys, access to medical care and the ability to move livestock, milk and produce to market.
Nimon identified the Hawke’s Bay Expressway widening and work to strengthen the route between Napier and Wairoa among the transport projects she was proud to support.
The distinction between construction and completion remains important. NZ Transport Agency’s current project information shows work continuing on the expressway’s new carriageway, bridges and interchange preparations.
For road users, the benefits will ultimately be measured in dependable journeys and safer access, alongside the disruption involved in delivering the work.
Nimon identified access to healthcare as another major concern.
She argued that the region’s population was best served by a strong central hospital supported by services closer to communities, rather than attempting to duplicate the full range of hospital care in multiple locations.
For Napier residents, she described travelling to the main hospital in Hastings as a reasonable part of a regional service model.
She also recognised that people further north, including those in Wairoa, faced a different access challenge.
Her position links the region’s transport and health debates: investing in a hospital matters, but so does ensuring patients can reach it.
Since the interview, the Government has announced the opening of a new 28-bed ward at Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
The 13 October announcement also identified a $44.8 million cancer centre under construction and a $35.8 million radiology expansion and refurbishment, alongside planning for longer-term hospital redevelopment.
Those projects provide concrete context for Nimon’s argument about strengthening regional capacity. Their effect on patients will depend on how that capacity translates into access to care.
Nimon said Hawke’s Bay needed to offer young people the opportunity to build a career without feeling compelled to move to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or overseas.
She wanted growth in manufacturing, horticultural innovation, tourism and supporting professional services to produce more jobs and better earning opportunities.
Her argument went beyond attracting visitors or promoting the region’s lifestyle.
Residents should be able to stay without believing they were sacrificing their professional future, she said.
She described attending a networking event for younger people in Hawke’s Bay that demonstrated the range of professionals already living and working locally.
Connecting those people could help make regional opportunities more visible, she suggested.
Nimon also wanted migrants considering New Zealand to look beyond the largest cities and recognise what Hawke’s Bay could offer.
However, her ambition depends on businesses being able to grow, win higher-value work and employ more people. Promoting the region and creating those opportunities are related tasks, but they are not interchangeable.
Asked what she was most proud of, Nimon highlighted the Eastern Institute of Technology’s return to independence.
She argued that locally based leadership could respond more effectively to Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti employers, learners and communities.
EIT became an independent Crown entity again on 1 January 2026, following its separation from the national polytechnic structure.
Nimon said the institution played an important role in training the workforce needed by the region, including tradespeople, horticultural workers, business professionals and healthcare staff.
She also highlighted the rebuilding of nursing education facilities damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle.
EIT has reported the completion and opening of its new clinical simulation facilities, providing a tangible recovery milestone for nursing education.
The return to independence nevertheless involved difficult decisions. EIT announced in August 2025 that its transition restructure would produce a net reduction of 40 full-time equivalent roles, following consultation.
That background adds context to Nimon’s positive assessment: regional autonomy has returned alongside the continuing task of maintaining financial sustainability and serving local needs.
Nimon said one of her biggest surprises on entering Parliament was how long the legislative process could take.
She described the gap between a government announcement, public expectations of immediate change and the subsequent stages required to turn a proposal into law.
Her criticism also touched on who participates.
While acknowledging the value of public engagement through select committees, she questioned whether the people most affected always knew a submission process was happening.
She described some parliamentary activity as “theatre” and suggested frequent submitters could already be people with relatively good access to MPs.
The concern she raised was about access as much as speed: a formal opportunity to participate does not necessarily mean everyone knows how or when to use it.
Nimon encouraged people to consider different routes into the political process, including contacting an MP, making submissions, petitioning Parliament or seeking support for a member’s bill.
Nimon drew a distinction between her party’s political programme and the responsibility to assist constituents regardless of how they vote.
She said her office sought to understand a person’s problem before determining what help was available.
That could involve dealing with a government agency, connecting someone with a council or explaining the steps they could take themselves.
She also described working with a rural community, council, road contractors and forestry interests over road safety concerns.
Although the road was a local government responsibility, she believed her relationships could help bring the relevant parties together.
Her account presented the electorate MP’s role as partly one of coordination: helping people navigate organisations and supporting conversations that might otherwise stall.
She connected that approach with National’s preference for limited government and personal responsibility, arguing that communities should sometimes take the lead with support from public agencies.
The interview also offered a glimpse of Nimon outside her parliamentary role.
She described herself as a night owl, chose matcha to start the day and named Māhia as a favourite place to unwind.
She also revealed that she had raced ministocks at speedway.
Asked whom she would most like to sit down with, she chose her grandfather, who died when she was 12. Through her work as an MP, she said, she continued meeting people who remembered his business and community contribution.
If she were not in politics, Nimon said she would probably be running a business, potentially in mechanics or tourism.
Her longer-term ambition was for Napier to become more internationally recognised for what it offers.
For residents still navigating cyclone recovery, healthcare journeys and decisions about where to work or study, that ambition has a practical test: whether a stronger regional economy is accompanied by dependable infrastructure and accessible services.
Nimon’s interview set out the future she wants for Hawke’s Bay. It also acknowledged the unfinished work between that vision and everyday security.
Source: Webfit News interview with Katie Nimon. Additional context checked against official information from EIT, NZ Transport Agency, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and the New Zealand Government.
