Hello from Sydney

Dear John,

When I started doing the Bishop Bulletin nearly ten years ago, I committed to sending it out fortnightly - a commitment I've just broken! My apologies for that, but I hope you'll agree I've got a good excuse - I've been in Paris with the NZ Team for the Olympic Games. I have a few roles in the government and by far the most fun one is being the Minister of Sport. I was privileged to spend the second week of the Olympics in Paris with the NZ Olympic Committee representing the government. It was a truly awesome experience and I was so proud of our New Zealand athletes.

The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the "Triple Gold" day ([link removed]) - I started at the kayaking in the morning and saw Dame Lisa win gold ([link removed]) in the K1 500, sprinted over to the golf course and saw Lydia Ko remain ice cold ([link removed]) in the last 6 holes to claim gold, and then headed to the Stade de France to see Hamish Kerr in the high jump. That moment when he nailed 2.34m in the "jump off" and ran out onto the field ([link removed]) was truly spinetingling and something I will never forget. My staff pulled together this little video ([link removed]) bringing the day together - check it out here. ([link removed]) A very special day in NZ sport in a very special Olympics for New Zealand. Our 10 gold medals is the best we've ever done.

I can tell you that NZ is very popular in France and in Paris. The hottest currency of the games were the little NZ lapel pins, that seemingly everybody in Paris ([link removed]) wanted. Alongside the sport watching I did do a range of diplomatic, economic and trade functions as well, including hosting a breakfast at "NZ House" with NZ Trade and Enterprise to profile NZ exporters to France. I even got to press the flesh with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the kayaking... right after New Zealand beat Germany (he was happy for us)

Sydney: I'm actually writing this update from Sydney, where I've been for the last couple of days for meetings on the way back from Paris. On Wednesday I met with Infrastructure Australia, School Infrastructure NSW and Health Infrastructure NSW. and held a roundtable lunch with a series of investors. Yesterday the PM flew into town with Simeon Brown and Shane Jones and we met with Infrastructure NSW, the Premier of NSW Chris Minns, and former Liberal Premiers Mike Baird and Dominic Perrottet and we attended a big NZ/Australia investment dinner in the evening. There's a lot we can learn ([link removed]) from NSW when it comes to infrastructure including their willingness to use toll roads, private capital, public-private partnerships, and build enduring infrastructure strategies that outlast changes of government. The good news is we've got work underway on all those areas.

Make it Count: Going back in time a bit, another highlight of the last few weeks was the National Party conference in Auckland. The PM outlined our ambitions plans to reform maths education. The latest data is incredibly troubling and should concern all Kiwis. Just 22 per cent of Year 8 students in New Zealand are at the expected curriculum benchmark for mathematics, just 12 per cent of Māori students are where they should be and overall, 63 per cent of the overall Year 8 cohort are more than a year behind. These results demand urgent change. So, we will we will bring forward the rollout of a new structured maths curriculum for year 0-8 students a year earlier than planned. From Term 1 next year, children will be learning maths based on a new world-leading, knowledge-rich maths curriculum based on the best from across the OECD like Singapore and Australia, adapted for New Zealand. $20 million will become available for professional development in maths and there are a range of other actions.
You can read more here. ([link removed])

Some good news: finally for this update, two pieces of good news in the last week. It was very good to see the Reserve Bank cutting the OCR by 25 basis points ([link removed]) on Wednesday - the first cut to the OCR since 2020. The government's economic plan is clearly working - inflation is down and now the Bank is responding.

Second, we announced last week that since the government came to office, 1000 fewer kids are now living in emergency housing motels ([link removed]) . Emergency housing is one of the biggest public policy failures we’ve ever seen in New Zealand, growing from a few families using it for brief periods into a situation where thousands of kids were growing up in motels. National promised change and in Government we are delivering it, with more than 1000 kids moved out of motels and into homes under our watch. The Government has set an ambitious target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing by 75 per cent by 2030, so there's more to do, but we're making good progress.

I'm back on deck in New Zealand from this afternoon. If you're around the Hutt this weekend, do say hello. As always if you need a hand with anything, please reach out.
Chris

PSA: Congrats to Small Batch ([link removed]) who are Great NZ Toastie Takeover ([link removed]) challenge finalist, as well as Buzz Cafe ([link removed]) for winning the Sweet As ([link removed]) Hutt Hot Chocolate challenge 2024.
OLYMPICS 2024
Congratulating our track and field team at the Olympics.
On the Paris Metro after a long day watching NZ win gold. Tough job!
NATIONAL PARTY CONFERENCE
Talking about Infrastructure for the Future at our National Conference in Auckland last weekend. National’s comprehensive plan to build and maintain infrastructure will help drive our economy forward.
VISIT TO SYDNEY METRO
In the hard hats for a visit to the new Sydney Metro with Simeon Brown in Sydney. The Aussies do infrastructure well!
TAX RELIEF IS HERE!
As promised, there’s a bit of help coming for your back pocket.
BREAKFAST TV
Stade de France was my backdrop for my regular slot on Breakfast last week - first and last time I suspect!
OLYMPIC VILLAGE TOUR
It was a real privilege to check out the Olympic Village in Paris with NZ Chef de Mission, Nigel Avery. He and his team are did a fantastic job looking after our wonderful The NZ Team ([link removed][0]=AZX3Yi6U2Xoj6VqwGB2Gqz_xvFfeNQklgkl1hVtgH4hI6aa7j_RHP_fbR-yfxakWKkUbhS6pybh-Amc1HssIXjnWBIRuG_Q3pMnrO-jr5A9C_UnD_ENddFa1eb86hVaFeN7D9CLED7B_xeUGnf08vOW3W7U0MLu3RwCrxq571F8x0M5vJtcPINRmDXxY_UQUP88QQjUE4HCnJJtPUPaES4Lj&__tn__=-]K-R) athletes.
MINISTER OF MANUFACTURING TOURS JD MCLENNAN
I took Minister of Manufacturing Andrew Bayly MP ([link removed][0]=AZVeJOszniRRNUIC4ciTnfV4h2t9ZREkEoNEnJi-IBKyXGn2JSP7m1Me-vMNqI6JT-q0H_s5-dfPXh8Zu549KTKK07KFPkXgaQTUkRsLKBeq54rixXGR8xAkOhbGdzORgWwJAAyDazZbDmHYa13BHLTfGwqs38X21J5qtWf7lSYlmetlHwcVgNFJcOSUR6oW2U2VCeqnMY65e1C7wERQNedl&__tn__=-]K-R) to Technology (Hutt) Valley! We checked out JD McLennan’s operations - where they make airbridges used in airports around NZ, Australia and the Pacific.
VISIT FROM MY FRIEND STEVEN

Steven Mulvay dropped by to say hello last week, it was great to catch up with him.
JEREMY UPDATE
Jeremy’s first plane ride in a big seat! He loved it (Photo from our trip to National conference in Auckland, not Paris!)

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