Dear John,
Well FINALLY the special votes have all been counted and the final election results have been declared (subject to a few recounts!). I'm pleased to report that my margin in Hutt South actually increased after the special votes to 1332, meaning I've been re-elected as the MP for Hutt South. I couldn't be happier.
I have to admit to a bit of a surprise to my margin increasing - in 2014 and 2017 I lost 500 votes between the "on the night" results and the final count, and in 2020 I lost a massive 1700 votes. So it'll be interesting to dive into the detailed results when they're released - probably over Christmas, as we have a government to form...
Nationwide after the special votes were counted National lost two seats, which I said was a real possibility the day after the election. I did have a sneaky hope it would be just one seat this time, but oh well. The upshot of all of the specials is that National has 48 seats and ACT has 11 - making 59. That's not a majority in a 120 seat Parliament and this Parliament looks like being 122 seats anyway due to the Maori Party winning six electorate seats, so we need NZ First to govern. Negotiations are underway now. Christopher Luxon has made it clear we won't be conducting negotiations through the media, which seems to be frustrating them, but it's definitely in the national interest. I'm confident we will form a strong and stable government. As I said to Q and A on the weekend, New Zealanders have sent a clear message of change, and now it's up to us politicians to work out the arrangements to give effect to that change.
Unfortunately, National's excellent results in so many electorate seats has meant that Emma Chatterton hasn't made it into Parliament, despite an excellent list slot of 28. I'm really disappointed for her personally and I know many around the Hutt will be gutted. She's a quality candidate and worked extremely hard. In any other year being 28 on the list would be enough to make it into Parliament, but National won 43 electorate seats this year - which I'm happy to say we just did not expect. It's a real quirk of MMP that the hard work of excellent candidates like Paulo Garcia (who won New Lynn), Vanessa Weenink (who won Banks Peninsula) and Carlos Cheung (who beat Michael Wood in Mt Roskil) means that similarly excellent candidates like Emma miss out. I hope Emma comes back for round 2 in 2026. Certainly next time around she won't be up against the sitting Prime Minister! If you'd like to send Emma a message of support, then please do. Email Emma.
Around the Hutt: During the day recently my focus has been on the various post-election activities underway - and in the evening I've been enjoying lots of school prizegivings. Naenae College last night, and Wainuiomata High, St Bernard's and Sacred Heart last week. More to come once exams are over. Good luck to all students out there heading into exams - it's an important time of year. I've also been enjoying Diwali celebrations - Happy Diwali!
Have a great rest of the week. As always if you need anything, please flick me an email.
Chris
P.S How good is Lower Hutt's own Rachin Ravindra? THREE centuries in the Cricket World Cup now, against quality opposition, with matches to come. Let's hope the Black Caps make the semis.
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A big thank you to everyone who helped out on the local campaign - we delivered over 100,000 pieces of collateral (letters and leaflets), called thousands of voters and knocked on thousands of doors. By the end of the campaign we had over 300 signs up around the Hutt - it really was a sea of blue out there! Every little bit counts, and it really was a team effort - with so many people helping out in so many ways, both big and small.
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Emma ran a great campaign and got the margin in Remutaka down to under 10k - against the sitting Prime Minister! I'm gutted she won't be in Parliament. Hopefully 2026!
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Naenae College Prizegiving
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A great Naenae College Prizegiving last night.
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Sharing langar at the Wellington Gurudwara Sahib on a couple of Sundays ago with Nicola Willis and Emma Chatterton.
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I joined Mayor Tory Whānau and Nicola Willis to officially open Wellington Diwali 2023 last weekend. Happy Diwali!
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Picked up a copy of ‘Pass it On’, an award-winning cookbook by Lower Hutt locals Shobha & Keryn Kalyan. It features incredible Gujarati recipes and as a big fan of Indian cooking I can’t wait to try some out over summer! Might even post a few here in coming months…
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Jeremy says Happy Halloween!
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Jeremy helping with the Waiwhetu stream clean on Sunday morning.
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Congrats to Unite Publications from Sacred Heart College, who were finalists in the Young Enterprise Scheme Wellington finals. Their English language starter books have been a real winner! They’re designed for refugees and new migrants to NZ.
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