Ideology vs Commonsense

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters met with representatives from Save Women’s Sport Australasia, discussing an open letter to the Government on reviewing Sport NZ’s gender guidelines. The fairness of competition and safety for women and girls in sports should never come second place to woke ideology.

This comes after a Curia poll reported that 72% of respondents oppose males self-identifying as female being able to participate in women’s sports. We know that Kiwis feel strongly about this issue and we will continue to advocate for commonsense.

We appreciate the ongoing support to fulfil our coalition agreement promise, ensuring that publicly funded sporting bodies support fair competition that is not compromised by rules relating to gender.

Prioritising Kiwis

New Zealand First MP Shane Jones continues to lead the charge against gentailers profiteering, while Kiwi households and businesses struggle with soaring electricity prices. He has also fronted discussions on the closure of Winstone Pulp Mill and what it means for the local community.

Your industrial grade NZ First MP

Another contributor to the unsustainable cost of living in New Zealand, electricity pricing remains a core focus for Shane and the New Zealand First team, along with tackling the banks and the supermarkets, to look after the interests of New Zealanders. Hear more from Shane in these recent interviews:

• 'Ghastly': Minister Shane Jones appalled by closures generated by power prices
• Shane Jones on RNZ: Gentailers dominate the power system, and they've failed Kiwis
• Shane Jones on Newstalk ZB: We trusted the power system to deliver energy security

Joined by New Zealand First MPs, Shane rounded out the week with the next Regional Summit in Kaikohe, to discuss regional development opportunities throughout provincial New Zealand.

New Zealand First values

We welcomed the Government update on Friday, confirming that public service agencies are being directed to prioritise service delivery on need, not ethnic identity.

Commonsense has prevailed once again. Every New Zealander deserves the right to access public services based on genuine need, and this is another coalition commitment of ours fulfilled.

New Zealand First continues to combat the shrill voices of the opposition seeking to divide New Zealand with their unfounded ideology. Get a glimpse of Shane in action in the house HERE.

Equally passionate in the house this week was List MP Tanya Unkovich, reminding Kiwis that we have heard them, and that they have not been forgotten. New Zealand First campaigned on an independent Covid Inquiry, and we know that many New Zealanders are still hurting. Listen to Tanya’s speech HERE.

We have also seen a new bill to tackle youth vaping introduced to the house by Associate Minister of Health, Casey Costello. This bill aims to prevent youth vaping by banning disposable vapes, significantly increasing fines for sales to under-18s, restricting product visibility for retailers, and ensuring proximity restrictions relating to early childhood education centres.

The Government remains focused on the 2025 Smokefree targets, and supporting those people with addiction to quit, while introducing preventative measures such as youth vaping legislation.

Casey also updated the house on recent drug seizures at New Zealand’s border. Customs teams are working hard to shut down more sophisticated attempts to evade border controls. Transnational organised crime groups pose a significant threat to our communities and we are progressing work to strengthen operational responsiveness across government.