Otematata mother, author, and farm cook Philippa Cameron, who has a following of more than 18,300 followers on her Instagram page What’s For Smoko, said it was "incredible" presenting the petition to Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean in Wellington.
"You would not believe the amount of people who stood on the steps with me," she said.
Mrs Cameron, who lives at Otematata Station with husband Joe and daughters Flora (5) and Evelyn (4), makes a 64km round trip twice a day to drive Flora to school in Kurow.
She was unhappy with the prospect of her 5-year-old making the trip on the Ritchies bus, without any type of restraint.
The petition had received strong support, amassing just on 6500 signatures.
"This morning when I left, I was like ‘gosh, what am I doing? Is it just going to be me shaking a hand?’ But no, it was very good," she said.
"I don’t think there’s one person I’ve spoken to who’s gone ‘what, this would never happen’, so I think that’s also very positive."
Mrs Cameron said she appreciated the effort Mrs Dean had gone to for the cause, which included garnering support from other rural MPs, including Southland MP Joseph Mooney and Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds.
They were joined by representatives from Federated Farmers, New Zealand Rural Women, and St John.
She was grateful for the support received, and said it showed the issue needed attention.
"I think they’ve seen a need for so long, that now we’ve finally got good momentum on it, they’re very eager to see something happen."
Mrs Dean said the petition would be taken to the petitions committee, of which she was the chairwoman. From there it would be decided where it should be forwarded to, and then that committee decided what to do with it.
The ultimate outcome would be a recommendation to Parliament, and it was then up to the Government to decide whether to pick the issue up and take it further, she said.
"The petition process itself is a very good way of highlighting issues of concern to the community."
- By Ashley Smyth
