Dear John,

Welcome to my June Newsletter

King’s Birthday weekend brought beautiful weather and many of us were out in the garden pruning and tidying. The weekend also brought a fresh round of Royal Honours, a new Deputy Prime Minister, and the unveiling of Budget 2025. This year’s Budget signals a clear direction: driving economic growth, keeping a tight rein on spending, and making smart, targeted investments in the areas that matter most, health, education, law and order, and infrastructure.

The 2025 Budget education package delivers a $2.5 billion boost over the next 4 years. This year’s investments are focused on transforming learning supports to lift student achievement and attendance. As part of this investment, $30 million has been earmarked to expand specialist school property across the country, and I’m thrilled to share that Ferndale School, right here in our electorate, will receive funding for two much-needed new classrooms.

I’d like to acknowledge and congratulate our incredible King’s Birthday Honours’ recipients from the Ilam electorate. They do remarkable work and have been celebrated and rightly awarded King’s Birthday Honours for the service they have given to our community over many years. They are Sophie Devine ONZM for services to cricket, Dr Richard Wild ONZM for services to animal welfare and the veterinary sector and Lesley Huckins MNZM for services to swimming.

Please remember that anyone can nominate someone for a Royal Honour. To find out how, read the nomination guidelines and complete an honours nomination form.

Local elections are coming up this October, and it is a postal vote, so now is the time to make sure you’re enrolled at the correct address and have your say. Your enrolment pack should have arrived in your letterbox in April. If it didn’t, you may need to update your address by 1 August, so you’ll receive your voting papers in the mail too.

To enrol, check and update your details vote.nz/enrol or more information here.

What’s coming up in June

June 15-22 is Volunteer Week so I’m asking people to nominate groups in Ilam to be recognised for their work. Please phone my office or email in details, and, on 18 June, I’ll pop out and give their team a thank you gift.

I’m donating blood on National Blood Donor week (9-15 June). This is something I do regularly and would encourage anyone else who is able to, to donate also. Visit www.nzblood.co.nz/give-blood or call 0800 GIVE BLOOD. 117,000 Kiwis regularly donate blood, plasma, or platelets as it’s used for a wide range of medical treatments, including surgeries, cancer treatment, trauma care, and for patients with chronic conditions like anemia or hemophilia.

I’m looking forward to speaking at the Graduation of the Salvation Army Driver Programme, attending the Hindu Bageshwar Dham Event and being on Chris Lynch’s Political Panel on Friday 13 June

May’s highlights

I completed my 250th parkrun. I have a long-running association with the global event, having helped establish one of the earliest parkruns in Australia over a decade ago. My running partner on the day was Chantal Kennedy. Chantal is a breast cancer survivor and was diagnosed with a rare form of the disease at just 32 years old. Thanks to early detection, successful surgery, and strong support, Chantal is now in remission, focused on living fully, staying healthy, and sharing her story in the hope that it helps someone else trust their instincts and seek help early.

In New Zealand, breast cancer affects one in nine women over their lifetime, so early detection is vital Breast Cancer Awareness Month • Breast Cancer Foundation NZ

The New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) - is an independent, non-governmental organisation that fosters expert discussion and understanding of international affairs, particularly as they relate to Aotearoa New Zealand. I was delighted to be guest speaker and lead a Wide-ranging discussion

Recent Key Announcements:

The Government will invest $15.2 m into upgrading infrastructure and enhancing conservation at Milford Sound to sustainably grow tourism while also protecting the jewel in our conservation crown (Beehive PR)

Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour is advocating for increased protections for family pets in family violence incidents. (Beehive PR)

The Government is welcoming a report which shows facial recognition technology is an effective way of combatting retail crime (Beehive PR)

New data showing international visitor spending increased by almost 10% on the previous year is welcome news (Beehive PR)

Processing delays for building consents and code compliance certificates have dropped since the Government began publicly releasing council performance data (Beehive PR)

The Ilam office is open Mon-Fri from 9am – 3pm and you are welcome to pop in. To make an appointment to meet with me, call Leanne 03 3593665 or email [email protected]

Weekly JP Clinic is on Thursdays between 12-1pm in the Ilam office. Call first 03 3593665.

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Feel free to share this email with friends and family who might like to stay in touch and connected with the community Click here and fill out the ‘Get updates’ form at the bottom of my website.

Kind regards

Hamish Campbell