This week we delivered Budget 2026, which is always an exciting and busy week in Parliament.
Napier MP, Katie Nimon and I were super excited to see a Significant Boost for Hawke’s Bay Hospital in Budget 2026!
An investment in the redevelopment of Hawke's Bay Hospital under Budget 2026 will support better care, shorter waits, and greater confidence for patients across our region.
This marks an important step forward for the future of Hawke’s Bay Hospital, with funding confirmed for design and early works to support its redevelopment.
Our government has made significant investments already in the hospital’s new radiology department, a cancer LINAC treatment machine, and a new 28-bed ward which has started construction.
The redevelopment work forms part of a wider Budget 2026 package investing more than $680 million into hospital infrastructure across the country.
Our government is taking a practical, staged approach—delivering improvements now while planning for the future.
From new beds to better cancer treatment, and upgraded radiology services through to redevelopment planning, this is about strengthening our hospital so it can serve our community for decades to come.
I was also so thrilled to see my 3 day stay members bill, to give mums better post natal support after having a baby, funded in budget 2026. This makes my bill a reality.
After giving birth you shouldn’t be forced to leave hospital or a birthing unit, when you aren’t ready, which is why our government is committing more funding support for postnatal care and a 3 day stay if you choose. I was in Auckland today with the Prime Minister, our Health Minister and Minister Upston to give further details on the funding.
The new budget funding of $34.4 million will mean that new mums will have a choice and a legal entitlement to a 3 day stay if they need it.
There is nothing more important than bonding with your newborn baby, because we know this leads on to a lifetime of success.
I’ve been a strong advocate alongside Minister Upston, for better postnatal care to support new mums.
And now it has the funding to make it happen.
Investing in more maternity beds, more staff, and longer stays.
This is a massive win for Mums and families across NZ, because mothers matter!
As a mum of four, I know how overwhelming those first days can be. Having a baby is one of the most special moments in life, but there is so much to learn, and the right care and support make all the difference.
No mum should feel forced to leave hospital before she is ready. This change means mothers will have a real choice, with a legal entitlement to stay for up to 72 hours instead of the current 48 hours if they need that extra support.
The policy will be rolled out progressively over three years, starting where capacity already exists, while Health New Zealand expands the workforce and maternity bed capacity. Additional capacity will come through a mix of public and private providers so the system can respond quickly and sustainably as demand grows.
This is a huge win for Hawke’s Bay mums and families, and I’m proud to have advocated for better postnatal care and secured the funding to help make it happen.
Here are some of the key highlights from Budget 2026:
We are staying the course on fiscal discipline, rebuilding New Zealand’s financial buffers and ensuring future generations aren’t left with higher debt and costs. Budget 2026 includes a tightly controlled $8.3 billion net package over four years
Budget 2026 includes around $2 billion in new funding for education over four years to lift student achievement, support teachers and invest in school property and infrastructure. We’re providing professional development for 32,000 school teachers increasing the operating grant for schools, accelerating up to 10 major redevelopments, and investing in growing and maintaining school properties.
This Budget delivers the single largest investment in frontline services, with $5.8 billion in health funding over four years to support doctors, nurses and patients, alongside initiatives like lowering the bowel screening age.
We’re investing in hospital upgrades and a further $930 million in the next year on new clinical equipment, technology upgrades and hospital facility improvements, including an upgrade of the Hawke's Bay Hospital.
Investment in digital systems and planning reforms will streamline processes, reduce red tape and help unlock housing and infrastructure development in fast-growing areas like Hawke's Bay.
Changes to the SuperGold Card will provide additional support to older New Zealanders, helping ease cost pressures and ensure they can continue to live with dignity and independence.
Budget 2026 includes a $79 million boost for wilding pine control (taking total funding to $109 million over three years) to protect productive land, biodiversity and water catchments.
We’re investing around $1.6 billion into Defence capability and operations, including maritime security and modern equipment for the NZDF – supporting personnel and families at Burnham Military Camp.
Budget 2026 is about careful choices – supporting Kiwis today while investing in the infrastructure, services, and reforms needed for tomorrow.
It’s a Budget that backs economic growth, strengthens communities, and helps secure a more affordable and prosperous future for the next generation.
It was special to celebrate the completion of the first major stopbank construction, following Cyclone Gabrielle.
This is a significant milestone in our rebuild and recovery, with the other stopbank constructions across Hawke’s Bay still underway.
This investment in resilient stop banks means our community will be safer.
This project is a result of the partnership between the Crown, Local Government, Ngāti Pārau, Ngai Tahu Ahi, and the Waiohiki community all working together.
Building back stronger.
It was an honour to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Hastings High School Old Girls Netball Club!
This incredible club is the oldest netball club in New Zealand!
To reach a century of bringing girls and women together through sport is an unbelievable achievement.
It was wonderful to catch up with the club’s incredible life members and patron, sharing stories of a century’s worth of dedication, passion, and community.
Netball is so much more than just a game. It shapes lives, teaches resilience, leadership, teamwork, and confidence—that stay with girls, boys, women and men forever.
Having played netball since I was a little girl, this sport has a massive piece of my heart.
Reminiscing at the centenary brought back many happy memories of my own years on the court as a child, on very cold Saturday mornings in Taumarunui.
And today I still Iove playing for the Parliamentary netball team, and my respect for the value of netball continues to grow.
Congratulations HHSOG Netball Club on 100 years of empowering young girls, women and men in our community.
Here’s to the next century of success!
I loved judging the Young Enterprise Scheme earlier this week!
What amazing entrepreneurship and some incredible business ideas!
Well done to all the teams who presented!
From sustainable mountain bike racks, period products, smelly shoe relief, event websites, slime products, pet treats, Te Reo card games and much more - we saw it all and had so much fun judging these amazing business ideas!
Keep shooting for the stars - you are awesome students and thanks to the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce for all your organising! Always an amazing event to be part of.
The Government has listened to feedback and will pause work on the regulation changes that were included in an amendment paper to the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill.
The government heard from families, MPs, coalition partners and the education sector, and have decided to take the time to get this right. The Bill will be referred back to the Committee of the Whole stage, to remove amendments relating to homeschooling.
We know the vast majority of parents do a great job homeschooling their children and we support having choice in our education system.
Stalking is now a criminal offence.
If you are a woman in New Zealand, you’ve heard the frightening stories from friends – or experienced for yourself the consequences of this devastating behaviour. No more. The emotional, physical, psychological and financial abuse now has serious consequences – and not before time.
The watching, the following, the tracking that has ruined so many lives will now be a crime – before it turns deadly.
From Monday, May 25, stalking is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in prison. Our government is sending a very clear message - this insidious behaviour has to stop. If it continues, stalkers will face the consequences.
The next steps are underway to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) into breast screening, supporting earlier detection and better outcomes for women.
Health New Zealand is taking a careful, evidence-based approach to introducing AI into screening. Earlier this year, organisations with expertise in AI image-reading technology were invited to demonstrate how these tools could be safely and effectively integrated into our national programme.
Procurement is now underway to select a preferred AI mammogram reading tool for testing and validation, ahead of a planned rollout from early 2027.
The proposed AI technology would undertake one of the two independent reads currently required in the mammogram assessment process, supporting workforce capacity while ensuring clinicians remain central to all decisions about patient care.
New investment in Budget 2026 will ensure faster, better emergency responses, and make New Zealand more resilient.
Right now, the technology and data that underpins emergency management is fragmented, and getting information takes time – that could lead to delays, blind spots and risk to life.
Funding through Budget 2026 will address this by supporting the National Emergency Management Agency to deliver modern technology systems for the emergency management sector.
This includes a common operating picture that provides emergency management personnel with a single, shared view of information and data such as hazard and evacuation maps, population data, infrastructure status and available resources.
Read more here- New technology means safer communities | Beehive.govt.nz
We are supercharging efforts to prevent the spread of wilding pines.
More than 2 million hectares across New Zealand are already affected, and for many farmers these invasive trees are a real burden. They take over farmland, put pressure on water supplies, and increase wildfire risk.
The announcement is a major investment in our environment, our farms and the long-term resilience of rural communities.
The National Party Blue Greens and Rural Nats have been advocating for this, and the investment will help those on the ground stay ahead of wilding pine spread.
We’re backing farmers and rural communities with the support they need.
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