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09 Oct 2024
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Wow Hawke's Bay thank you for your generosity! We received an overwhelming number of blankets. Our aim was to collect 150 blankets and we far exceeded that with more than 600 blankets collected in five days.
A special shout-out to the person who hand-knitted more than a dozen colourful blankets, and the Christchurch business which couriered pure wool blankets to us.
These blankets will go a long way to keeping hundreds of families warm this winter. Thank you to each and every one of you for playing your part, and a very special thank you to the dozens of volunteers at Christian Lovelink.
I am back in Parliament now and working hard towards the Budget next week. I have had some late-night catch ups with our amazing Finance Minister Nicola Willis who will deliver Budget 2024 next Thursday.
Our National team is working hard to strengthen our economy and reduce the cost of living.
OUT & ABOUT:
Loved getting out and about in the Tukituki electorate before heading to Wellington. Here's my last week in brief.
Our police do an amazing job, and it was so good to spend a few hours with our Eastern District Commander Superintendent Jeanette Park and Inspector Chris Wallace to understand the real challenges on the ground in Hawke’s Bay.
Gang membership has increased significantly across the East Coast and our Government’s moves to crack down on gangs and provide police with more tools is being welcomed.
This includes banning gang patches in public, issuing dispersal notices and making gang membership an aggravating factor in sentencing.
The Hawke’s Bay fisheries industry is one of the backbones of our economy.
I loved meeting the Hawke’s Bay MPI Fisheries Team to gain valuable insights into our Hawke’s Bay fishing industry and learn more about the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle and the work that has been happening to monitor the impact.
I paid a visit to Kōwhai Specialist School in Hastings, an innovative, inclusive school for students with special needs.
I was so heartened to see the care and commitment for our Hawke’s Bay children and all the amazing work the Kōwhai School Team are doing to ensure quality access to education.
I also wore pink in support of pink shirt day to stand up against bullying and supporting inclusivity.
Presbyterian Support East Coast is a self-proclaimed social investment agency and supports our children, older people and people and adults living with disability.
I caught up with CEO Dr Sanja Sajatovic-Majstorovic to learn about all the good they do.
As an advocate for people living with disabilities, I was heartened to learn about the different services they provide including 'transitioning from school support' which is imperative to help the individuals navigate their future.
It was great to attend our Lower and Central North Island National Party Conference, where we got together with members to discuss our Government’s vision and actions so far.
I was thrilled for our Tukituki team to receive a runner up award for the most doors knocked during the campaign last year. We all worked so hard to turn Tukituki blue so to have this hard work acknowledged at the conference was a credit to our team.
GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Lifeguard and Coastguard package:
This week in Parliament, the NZ Search and Rescue Gold Award was bestowed on Hawke’s Bay Surf Life Saving NZ SAR Squad for the rescue of more than 200 people from Esk Valley and Pakowhai during Cyclone Gabrielle on February 14, 2023.
The announcement of a further funding boost of $63.64m for Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand is most welcome news for those in our Hawke’s Bay region who rely on the critical services that they provide.
Kāinga Ora review response:
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities.
Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It owns over 70,000 homes and is the country’s biggest landlord.
KO has built 225 new homes in Hastings in the last two years, with more than 200 new homes either in progress or at the feasibility stage. Over the past six years, even while billions of dollars were poured into it by the previous government, Kāinga Ora left thousands of social houses sitting vacant, tenants were left to rack up enormous rent arrears, and threatening, abusive tenants were permitted to continue living in Kāinga Ora homes.
We are going to align contractual arrangements across Kāinga Ora and Community Housing Providers, set an expectation the Kāinga Ora board will develop a credible and detailed plan to improve financial performance with the goal of eliminating losses.
On a lighter note, I am looking forward to donning the Fern tomorrow for the Parliamentary netball team, where we are playing a Cyclone Gabrielle fundraising game against Federated Farmers at Ngatapa in Gisborne.
Farmers and politicians will battle it out on court in an effort to support our East Coast Farmers.
Wish us luck!
In the media:
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I look forward to seeing you out in our Tukituki community soon.
Regards, Catherine
Catherine Wedd | MP for Tukituki
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