Olympic Spirit
While it’s a bit colder outside, I hope you have the chance to catch some of the Olympics. A big congratulations to the Black Ferns for already securing a gold medal, it bodes well for the rest of the competitions! It’s been great to see our local shops in St Heliers supporting Team NZ with their Olympic window displays.
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Our Tāmaki electorate office works around the clock to provide support to locals, and I wish to share a few recent wins. Our office received a call from a resident with a degenerative disability who hadn’t left his house in 3 years. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing so went to visit him; he was on the third floor of a Kainga Ora apartment block with no wheelchair access to the outside. After months of advocacy from our team, he now has an accessible home and a much better quality of life. A local mother reached out unable to enrol her son into a school for children needing specialist help. After our advocacy, the Minister for Education visited the school and our local mother was offered a spot at the school for her son. Our office can’t always guarantee a positive outcome but we will do our best to go in to bat for constituents. This month, I’ve been focused getting out in Glen Innes visiting local shops and even had the pleasure of attending an early childhood graduation ceremony at Best Start on Apirana Ave. The kids sung a fantastic Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to send their friend off to the Big School. I also joined our local police officer doing his rounds for the night to see our community from his perspective. I saw some issues with public safety and small improvements that could be made to lighting and footpaths around Glen Innes that I will pass on to local councillors. |
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It has been a busy month as Minister of Internal Affairs. It was a privilege to table the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-based Care. I want to personally acknowledge the significant contribution of nearly 3,000 survivors who shared their experiences of abuse and neglect over the last five years. My heart goes out to you, your families, and your support networks. This would not have been an easy process, and I acknowledge your courage. To any survivors of abuse in care in our community, I wish to ensure you are aware of the Survivor Experiences Service where you can share your experience and be provided support. I announced that local lotteries for charitable purposes such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ and hospices will be able to permanently operate online so these well-loved organisations can continue to fundraise for the community in an increasingly digital world. I will also be regulating online gambling to minimize harm, support tax collection and provide consumer protections to Kiwis. Casinos in New Zealand are licensed and I will be doing work behind the scenes over the coming months to license online casinos too. |
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I’m very pleased to announce our next guest speaker at our Community Meeting Series. Her Excellency Iona Thomas OBE, British High Commissioner to New Zealand will be coming to Tāmaki on Friday 16 August to share with us the work that she does in New Zealand and her journey. Please join us from 1-2pm with refreshments to follow. |
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Thank you for your support,
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