It's a watershed weekend, an historic moment in politics for Simon Bridges, Tauranga and Bay of Plenty.
'I think we should all be proud this weekend,” he says.
That's because the Leader of the Opposition and Tauranga Member of Parliament is the first Bay of Plenty MP to lead one of the two major parties. And consequently he's also the first local MP to lead his party into its annual conference – the National Party's 78th annual conference at the Sky City Convention Centre in Auckland.
'It's a heck of a big deal for me,” Simon told The Weekend Sun. 'I have been a member of the National Party for 25 years. And when you consider I am a 41-year-old spring chicken, it's not bad going.”
It also means he will have what he describes as a serious crack at the privilege of leading the country in 2020. 'As Leader of the Opposition, and I hope Prime Minister, Tauranga will be front and centre of my mind.”
And he thinks his quest for the top office is right on track. 'It's a case of National being very popular at the last election and probably a bit more popular today.” He says the country also has a government that lacks leadership, is a bit distracted and is creating a lot of uncertainty.
'It's incumbent on the National Party to fill those voids. We are working very hard at that.”
However on a personal level, the latest polls tell a different story for Simon Bridges. Despite saturation exposure round the country recently – reportedly 66 meetings since May – he's struggling to gain traction. The last preferred Prime Minister opinion poll put him at nine per cent. At the same time in his leadership John Key was polling 24 per cent and Bill English 25 per cent.
Simon will get an injection of prominence when he takes centre stage at the party conference.
The whirlwind of a political weekend begins with a dinner with John Howard, the 25th Prime Minister of Australia whose legacy was tougher gun laws, value-added tax, and immigration and industrial relations reforms.
'Looking forward to catching up with someone who was on the world stage and led Australia well for a long time. I've met him, but don't know him well, so it will be something special.”
A coy Simon Bridges will deliver his leader's address to the conference on Sunday morning. 'I am not going to give the game away. However, it will have a national but small end focus. I am always thinking about how that applies in Tauranga to the people I know – whether it's the small business owner, the nurses who helps my family, or the teachers who teach my young children.
'It will set up our values as a party and the direction for New Zealand. And that will be in sync with what I believe are the values and vision of Tauranga people.
The MP also says the city will play a significant role in policy-making.
'It's a down-to-business policy conference and we'll be talking a lot of ideas and shaping them up– ideas on foreign affairs, the economy, health, education, law and order, welfare and the environment. Then we will take them out to communities for discussion before we make them into detailed policy for 2020.”
The MP says it's his intention to bring some of the policy discussions home to Tauranga – 'Perhaps more than we have in the past.
'I am planning, for example, to get National's mental health spokesman Matt Doocey here to canvas views and listen to folk. We need more of that. Not just because I am a local MP but because Tauranga's a large centre now, the country's fifth biggest city, and it's important for that reason alone.”
He says for him, as leader of the National Party, it's all a great privilege.