Vanessa Weenink

03 Sep 2024

As the weather is starting to warm up, some of my projects are gaining more traction:

Earlier in the month, I was lucky enough to meet Lucy Callaghan. Last year, Lucy’s father died from melanoma just a week before her 14th birthday. As a way of coping with her father’s passing, she began crocheting daffodils. Lucy has now made over 500 daffodils in memory of her father, 120 have been bought by colleagues with proceeds going to the Southern Cancer Society. It was lovely to volunteer with Lucy over the weekend at the St Martins New World for Daffodil Day and to let her know that the Prime Minister was wearing her daffodil.
Hosted Whanganui MP Carl Bates in Christchurch. This was a great opportunity to show off the Banks Peninsula electorate. We visited some fantastic organisations, including the ARA Trades School. We got to meet the next generation of kiwi’s keeping our infrastructure and economy strong.
Hosted East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick at the Mt Pleasant Farmers Market. Dana helped me on a chilly Saturday morning speaking to constituents. The Mt Pleasant Farmers Market is consistently excellent.
Joined Education Minister Erica Standford for her meeting in Christchurch with school principals who have been part of the post-Earthquake rebuild programme. It was fantastic to see the progress that the former National government set up following the earthquakes and hearing what else we can do to help.
Spent the day in New Zealand’s southernmost city, Invercargill. I was lucky enough to meet with various organisations including South Island Charity Hospital, Southland Hospital, Great South, Arena Healthcare, and Good Guise who are contributing greatly to the mighty South.
Joined Halswell Councillor Andrei Moore and helped with Halswell School’s morning patrol. School patrols keep students safe on the road by controlling the flow of traffic and pedestrians at school crossing points. This was a perfect opportunity to meet with students, staff, and parents of Halswell School and speak about a few community issues including road safety.
Visted the Koukourarata Port Levy and had a wonderful meeting with Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata general manager. Great to see all the amazing conservation work they are doing, and the on-going projects they have.
Commemorated the 79th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Botanical Gardens. It was sobering to ring the bell in remembrance of all the victims. May it never happen again.

Community Update:

After catching up with Halswell Councillor Andrei Moore over the Halswell School morning patrol, I met Andrei on the steps of Parliament to receive his petition to improve safety outside Halswell Primary School on SH75 for a safer crossing point. Following on from this, Andrei will also be joining the Minister of Transport Simeon Brown when I host him later this year. I am looking forward to hosting Simeon in November to show him the developments in Halswell and SH75 regarding the current speed limits.

Last month’s community sessions in Diamond Harbour, Akaroa and Little River were all well-attended. It was fabulous to connect with more locals and hear about all the exciting community projects happening around the Peninsula. I also heard feedback from the community and will be catching up with Mayor Phil Mauger soon to talk about some of the concerns which were raised with me.

Soon I will also be sending out a lettered survey asking Banks Peninsula residents what they think needs to be done to improve the Banks Peninsula electorate. I am hoping to get feedback about the idea of having another High School in the Halswell area and if having part of Banks Peninsula becoming a dark sky reserve would be supported.

National’s News:

Budget tax cuts mean an average household in Christchurch will be receiving around $2639 per year in tax relief. The tax changes took effect on July 31, allowing you to keep more of what you earn. Visit budget.govt.nz/taxcalculator to see how much you'll save.
We’re ending the nearly 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab to help us tackle cancer, climate change and boost our economy.
We're revitalising the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme and increasing the cap for the coming season to help rebuild the economy.
The new Traffic Light System will help more people get off Jobseeker Support and into employment and introduces tougher consequences for those who repeatedly do not meet their benefit obligations.
Public consultation on raising the speed limit to 110km/h on the Christchurch Southern Motorway from Brougham Street to Rolleston will begin soon.

Out and About in Banks Peninsula:

Big congratulations to the Halswell Community Patrol which launched in August. Halswell Community Patrol is a voluntary organisation that supports maintaining a safe community. The team is looking for more volunteers, so if you are interested in being a community patroller, email [email protected].
Visited the new building which will house Coastguard Canterbury in Lyttelton harbour. It’s amazing to see how much hard work is done by volunteers across our country and Coastguard Canterbury is yet another prime example of this.
Spent the morning with the wonderful volunteers at Living Streams Native Plants in Little River. The team encourages local regeneration and conservation through growing native plants and creating a space for locals to connect through their shared passion of the environment.
Spent an afternoon with Lawrence and his doggo Fletcher from ReWild Wainui. Lawrence is championing for Wainui to flourish through more native bush and native birds returning to the area through the community working together towards a common goal of making Wainui even better. The local community are doing this through removing pests, reducing weeds, and replanting natives.
On that note, Pest Free Banks Peninsula are still seeking more residents and bach owners to help remove possums in Akaroa and surrounding areas. If you are interested in hosting a bait station, email [email protected] for more information.
Spoke at Hohepa as an apart of the group Leap’s initiative ‘I am human’ series, where I got to tell them a bit about myself and how I got to be the MP for Banks Peninsula.
Spent an afternoon at French Peak Winery and Accommodation. An amazing place to stay. It is always great to meet with hard working businesses across Banks Peninsula.
Went along to the Woolston Development Project Family Day. This was a fantastic free event for families.
Headed to Diamond Harbour to be at the blessing of the Black Pearl. A new ferry for the Diamond Harbour crossing. This new vessel can take up to 95 people, effectively doubling the capacity of each crossing.

Community Drop-In Sessions:

I am pleased to announce my next community drop-in session on Sunday September 8. Please do come along to my office in Ferrymead if you are in the area: