The latest news from Parliament and the Hutt

How good were the Black Caps?!
Dear John,

How good were the BlackCaps last Saturday night?! I slipped across the ditch for 48 hours to see it in person at the SCG. I have to admit I went in expecting disappointment - we haven't won a game in Oz since 2011 and our recent form hasn't been great - but wow, what a match! A very satisfying victory, as was the Wellington Lions victory earlier in the afternoon as well. Good weekend of sport for Wellingtonians. I'm looking forward to the Black Ferns quarterfinal in the Women's Rugby World Cup on Saturday night.

It's been a full-on couple of weeks at Parliament. Last week Dr Gaurav Sharma shocked everyone by resigning his seat ([link removed]) in Parliament, after Labour had expelled him from their caucus a few weeks ago. Because he's an electorate MP there will be a by-election (it was a bit odd hearing the PM criticise the cost of the by-election when a couple of weeks ago she was campaigning for Rongotai MP Paul Eagle to win the Wellington Mayoralty, which would have forced... a by-election). The big date is December 10 and we'll be running a strong campaign in the seat to try and win it from Labour. It would be a nice Christmas present to win the seat, but Hamilton West is always a "bellwether" seat and Labour won it by over 6000 votes in 2020, so we will see.

5 years of Labour: This week marked five years of the Labour government coming to power. National launched a special website ([link removed]) called "Labour's Biggest Fail" ([link removed]) inviting people to vote on what they think the biggest fail of the last five years has been - and it's a long list! As a National team we are working hard on positive and sensible policy to get New Zealand back on track after the next election. We've already announced quite a lot (Stuff covered all the things we'll repeal and scrap here ([link removed]) ) and there's much more to come.

The big political news of the week was around the appalling state of our health system. Despite billions of dollars of extra money being poured into the system, and an expensive bureaucratic reorganisation, results are going backwards. The real focus has been on emergency department wait times, which are are the worst in a decade ([link removed]) . National's Dr Shane Reti has revealed that a quarter of people now wait longer than five hours and very sadly, this is having tragic results, like poor wee Neil Sebastian “Sebby” Chua who went to Wellington Regional Hospital where he spent six hours waiting for a paediatric doctor before his condition deteriorated and he died in the resuscitation room, eight hours after arriving.

Back in in 2009, the then-National government implemented a Shorter Stays in Emergency Department target of 95 per cent of patients being admitted, discharged or transferred within six hours.This was based on clinical evidence, and it worked. For almost all the time National was in office, the national average remained above 90%. Now nationwide the figure is just 76% ([link removed]) and in Capital and Coast the latest figure is 56.2 per cent. We need targets back, ASAP!

The rest of this newsletter contains a bit more about what I've been up to recently, including Diwali celebrations and launching the Malayalee Cricket tournament. Locally, it was wonderful to attend the official opening of the Wainuiomata Retirement Village a couple of weekends ago - this has been a project I've worked on since becoming an MP alongside other community leaders. Great to see it up and running!

Have a great weekend and go the Black Ferns, Black Caps, and All Blacks!

Chris

P.S If you're keen to support me and National, want to meet Nicola Willis and Erica Stanford, or just fancy a fun night out with delicious food and drinks, then I'd love to see you at my annual Christmas Drinks event on 8 December. Tickets here ([link removed]) (it's a fundraiser) or email me. (mailto:[email protected])

Last year's Christmas Drinks with Nicola, Chris & Erica was such a success, we're doing it all over again!

Please come along and enjoy Christmas drinks in the summer sun (we hope!) at the beautiful home of Chris & Kathryn Mackay in Woburn, Lower Hutt. There'll be lots of yummy food by local caterers ESSC Eats.

This is a fundraising event for the National Party in the Hutt Valley. There's just a year to go until the election! We are gearing up for a strong campaign in the Hutt and we would love your support. Click here to buy a ticket ([link removed]) or email us. (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Christmas%20Cocktail%20Tickets)
Please sign my petition here. ([link removed])
Dressed for the Occasion at the SCG...
Would you like fries with your McLuxon?
Christopher Luxon worked at McDonald’s Merivale when he was a teenager and he was back on the tools on Friday!

His comment: "I must say, the drive through is more complex than air traffic control, but I reckon I still make a solid Quarter Pounder."
Nepal Day Celebrations
Happy Diwali! A wonderful celebration last Sunday at the Michael Fowler Centre.
Check out the size of that trophy!
Launching the Wellington Malayalee Premier League cricket tournament last weekend at Fraser Park! A big thank you to the sponsors and organisers.
Changes at Bunny St... Finally?
Very pleased to see that FINALLY the Regional Council is acting to improve the safety of the Bunny St bus stops. The area is a focal point for anti-social behaviour and I've received many complaints about it. The design of the bus stops is part of the problem.

The shelter at Stop C will be removed to open sightlines and eliminate opportunities for entrapment. It will be replaced by an awning-style shelter along the mall fence line, which will be much more open to view and incorporate built-in safety features of lighting and CCTV.

The second stage will focus on providing more spacious and modern bus shelters. There will also be more bus stops to Queens Drive.

This has taken way too long and I'll keep on at the Regional Council to make sure the work gets done. I'll keep you all posted.
Wainuiomata Retirement Village
‘A COMPLETE LIFE CHANGER’: That’s what one resident said to me at the very special stone laying ceremony a couple of weekends ago at the Wainuiomata Masonic Village to formally mark the opening of the retirement village.

So pleased and proud to see the village being built and residents enjoying living there. A huge effort over many years from elected representatives, the community, Grey Power and others to make this happen. Great to see progress.🙂
Josh Ross in Parliament
Put this on the official Parliamentary Order Paper last week. Well done Josh!
A polite message from Simeon...
A polite message from Simeon Brown for the protestors disrupting Wellingtonians. They’ve turned up to a select committee yesterday wanting to put their case. The committee said no, not until they stop blocking motorways and causing disruption for thousands of people!
Prabha Ravi
Catching up with my friend Prabha Ravi at the Wellington Diwali festival. Prabha is the founder of the Natraj School of Dance in Lower Hutt and her students performed at the festival. They did an amazing job!
Regular Jeremy photo
Four months old on Thursday!
Regular Friday Ladyhawke Photo
Ladyhawke is so happy about the Black Caps victory!

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