Eric is married to Elizabeth and they have 4 adult children, all married.

Eric lives in Southland and is involved in primary industry including farming and forestry.

Eric was elected to Parliament in 1993 as the member for Awarua. After MMP he served two terms as a national list MP. Eric is now the elected member of the Invercargill Electorate.

Parliamentary experience includes having served in the roles of Junior Whip, Select Committee Chair and Assistant Speaker.

Eric has been involved in a wide range of community activities, Justice of the Peace, Marriage and Funeral Celebrant, and has a variety of representative roles in agripolitics, Meat and Wool boards Electoral committee, Federated Farmers and Young Farmers. He is currently Patron of New Zealand Young Farmers.

He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and has wide sporting interests particularly outdoor recreation.

Top 5 Issues

1. Building a stronger economy
   • Balance the books sooner.
   • Borrow less so we can have lower interest rates for longer.
   • Keep personal taxes lower to encourage hard work.
   • Make New Zealand more competitive so our exporters can sell more overseas and create more real jobs.
   • Encourage savings and investments.
   • Use the mixed-Ownership model to fund infrastructure to help us grow faster.
   • Invest in skills training and tertiary education that gets results.
   
2. Building world-class infrastructure
   • Ultra-fast broadband for greater innovation.
   • More, and better, roads to ease congestion.
   • Investing in more rail and public transport.
   
3. Building a safer New Zealand
   • Staying strong on crime – tougher sentencing, stronger bail laws, and a focus on victims.
   • Keep working to lower the crime rate further so our families are safer.
   • Making our roads safer, so we can keep the road toll lower.
   
4. Rebuilding Christchurch
   • $5.5 billion recovery fund
   • Re-establishing essential infrastructure
   • More construction-related training
   
5. Building better public services
   • Better Schools – identifying and helping children falling behind, school reports in plain English.
   • World-class healthcare –more doctors and nurses, more operations, shorter waiting times.
   • Effective welfare- more people back into work, more incentives to work, payment cards for teens on benefits.
   

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