Wedd's Weekly - April 3

I have had long days in and out of Parliament, with house sitting in urgency and stakeholder and constituent meetings in the electorate.

And in between the meetings I had the most wonderful opportunity to meet WWII veteran Len Charlton and his wife Judy, on his 100th birthday.

We enjoyed a great catch up about their life and I came away with not just his secret to longevity but also his tips to a long and happy 67 years of marriage - "always give more than you take".

What a man. Happy Birthday once again Len, it was a privilege to meet you and Judy.

It was exciting to see my 3 Day Stay Bill take a step forward this week.

My bill will give mums and babies more postnatal care and will provide more support and protection for families across New Zealand. This week we heard submissions on the Select Committee, and I was on the 6pm News advocating for this law change. Most submissions were in support of my bill, however there was some constructive feedback from submitters which will be considered.

You can read the media article here if you would like to find out more -

It was great to celebrate sustainable farming and amazing environmental practices at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards, and showcase our hardworking, innovative Hawke’s Bay Farmers.

Congratulations to all the finalists and especially Simon and Lou White who were the East Coast Supreme Winners and have been through some incredibly tough times after the Cyclone. The award is a testament to their resilience and hard work.

They have an incredibly diverse farming business with cropping, livestock and recently adding a world leading seed drying facility to their operation.

I can’t wait to see this awesome couple take on NZ at the Nationals in a few months.

We had a great family day out at the Peak Trail Blazer. It was so good to see so many families all out running together and enjoying the Hawke’s Bay sun on our incredible trails.

It’s such a wonderful fundraiser for Havelock North Primary and Te Mata Park- well done to all the organisers and volunteers and all the superstar runners and walkers who participated.

I loved catching up with Debbie Ward who is the National Disability Leadership Coordinator and a strong advocate and voice for disabled people in Hawke’s Bay.

I was so inspired by her and found her feedback incredibly valuable.

We spoke about the ways we need to overcome barriers to ensure good education, employment and involvement in our community for everyone.

Debbie is an incredible advocate for Hawke’s Bay, and I look forward to catching up more regularly, so we can see everyone reaching their full potential.

I had the privilege to turn the sod on a new water treatment plant in Central Hawke's Bay, which will ensure the townships of Ōtāne, Waipawa and Waipukurau have reliable drinking water.

The existing treatment plant was flooded in Cyclone Gabrielle and the townships were on a 'boiling water notice' for weeks.

This new plant, which is jointly funded by the Crown will ensure water security for Central Hawke’s Bay.

We can achieve great things when local and central government work together!

My 3 Day Stay Bill will give mothers better postnatal care and is supported by many organisations across NZ, including Plunket.

Plunket do an incredible job providing care and support to mums and babies.

I vividly remember my Plunket visits with my four children.

I visited Plunket to learn more about their services and I laughed and reminisced with the Plunket Clinical Leader Wendy Allen, who was surprised to hear about my healthy, bonny nearly 10-pound newborn babies - our heaviest hitting the scales at 4.444kg!

Our government supports community providers such as Plunket and is funding a pilot immunisation programme to increase immunisation rates in NZ.

“Community focused” and “locally led” achieves results!

I visited MSD to learn more about the jobseeker numbers and how they are working to get more people into work. Our government is working hard to get more people into work.

It was good to hear that Hawke’s Bay’s jobseeker numbers are remaining steady as our Horticulture Sector stays strong and our apple exporters are having a good season. A strong primary sector is what creates jobs and drives our economy and I will continue to support our growers and farmers so we can continue to see more jobs and opportunities in Hawke’s Bay.

I love visiting schools across our electorate, and it was so good to meet with Catherine Bentley, school principal of Hastings Girls High School, and find out about some great initiatives at the school.

This included the school lunch programme which they make onsite in their school kitchen and manage incredibly well with local Chef Katie. It was also good to learn about the positive impact the cell phone ban is having at Hastings Girls, with students much more engaged in learning. Well, done to Catherine and her team at Hastings Girls for all the work they are doing to provide all these talented girls a quality education.

We are scrapping the Resource Management Act.

We are laser-focused on cutting the red tape holding New Zealand back. We need to get Infrastructure built, and that's exactly what we are doing.

We have been held back too long with the culture on 'no'. But now, we are saying yes- yes to growth, yes to a productive economy, yes to building infrastructure, yes to investing in our future.

A public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement has been launched.

This announcement is particularly important for our farmers and growers, the backbone of Hawke's Bay's economy.

The government is offering all interested New Zealanders, including businesses, NGOs, and members of the public the opportunity to make a submission prior to 15 April 2025.

With a population of 1.4 billion people and on track to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030, India holds significant potential for New Zealand and will play a pivotal role in the government’s goal to double New Zealand’s exports by value over the next ten years.

Alongside trade agreement negotiations, New Zealand will continue to invest in stronger, deeper, more sustainable connections with India across all pillars of the relationship, including our political, defence and security, sporting, environmental, and people-to-people connections.

For more information, including on how you can make a submission, please share your views at https://www.mfat.govt.nz/have-your-say before 15 April 2025.

Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector.

The MOC aims to foster closer ties between the two countries’ horticultural industries, focusing on areas such as technical exchanges, harvest and post-harvest management, training, and the sharing of technological expertise.

An enhanced Air Services Agreement between the India and New Zealand has come into force - making code sharing on services between New Zealand and India easier.

While it is ultimately a commercial decision for our national carriers, the government is confident direct flights between New Zealand and India are within sight in the next couple of years.

Being able to fly directly from Auckland to New Delhi would be a game-changer for the cultural, people-to-people and commercial ties between our countries.

We are restoring law and order and signalling to victims they deserve justice and that they are our priority.

This government promised to restore real consequences for crime. That’s exactly what we’re delivering.

Some of the reforms to strengthen the criminal justice system include-

Capping the sentence discounts that judges can apply at 40 per cent when considering mitigating factors, unless it would result in manifestly unjust sentencing outcomes.

Preventing repeat discounts for youth and remorse.

Responding to serious retail crime by introducing a new aggravating factor to address offences against sole charge workers and those whose home and business are interconnected.

More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost starting April 1, this week.

From 1 April, most MSD payment rates will increase through the Annual General Adjustment (AGA).

Pensioners will notice an extra boost to their New Zealand Superannuation or Veteran’s Pension this year, with their total increase around 3 per cent. This is because of the relationship to the net average wage, which forms part of the rate calculation.

We know the cost-of-living crisis the previous government left us with has been particularly difficult for beneficiaries, and the coming uplift will help many with household budgeting.

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I look forward to seeing you out in our Tukituki community soon.

Regards, Catherine