Budget Business and Turning Tāmaki Pink
I hope you had a wonderful King’s Birthday Weekend! The sun was out and so was I with a few volunteers delivering leaflets for our upcoming community meeting (more on this below). Congratulations to all the remarkable Kiwis who received Royal Honour’s this weekend, including five fabulous members of our Tāmaki electorate who were honoured. I wish to acknowledge Lesley Milne (CNZM), Allison Ferguson (ONZM), John Collins (MNZM), Lorraine Cranmer Mentz (MNZM), and Dr Matire Harwood (KSM) for their work in our community and their appointments. It is inspiring to see the change even one individual can make in New Zealand.
It's been a busy month in the Beehive and in Tāmaki. This past week the coalition Government released our first Budget. For the first time in 14 years, the Budget will enable hard-working New Zealanders to keep more of their own money through tax relief.
I’m proud to let you know that in my two responsibilities as Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety efficiencies and savings have been made so that taxpayers’ money is being spent responsibly and better focused on the services that matter most to New Zealanders. We have found savings of around $421 million across the entire Internal Affairs Budget and around $65 million savings from repealing the Fair Pay Agreements, one of my first tasks in Government. My focus is on improving the effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness of departments this year and in years to come.
Through the business of Budget Week, I was pleased to see Tāmaki local school Selwyn College in the Beehive learning about the machinery of Government. It was pleasing to spend time with the Year 13 class and talk a bit about my life as a Government Minister between Wellington and Tāmaki. It’s always good to see the next generation engaging in our democracy.
It’s pink nearly every day for me as your local MP, but this month was different. We turned Tāmaki pink for our Pink Ribbon Breakfast! Thank you to David Seymour, MP for Epsom, and the team at Akarana for co-hosting a breakfast in Tāmaki to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation. A large thank you to locals who bought tickets and supported the cause. We raised almost $5,000 for the Breast Cancer Foundation. Our guest speaker Justine Smyth, Chair of the Foundation, was a star and we hope to have her back in future!
I’m delighted to announce I’m bringing economist Brad Olsen to Tāmaki to discuss the state of the economy and his take on Budget 2024. The meeting is Friday 21 June, 6:30pm at Sacred Heart College. It’s an event not to be missed. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to help us prepare for numbers. I look forward to seeing you there!
Thank you for your support,
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