Dear John,

It's the school holidays and Parliament isn't sitting (other than Youth Parliament!) - so it's been great to be out and about in the Hutt this week including at the Riverbank Markets, hosting a Pink Ribbon breakfast with Nicola Willis, the big McBain Shield clash between HOBM and Petone, and more. Thanks to everyone who has stopped to say hello. On the weekend we also celebrated Jeremy's third birthday at the Pavilion in Days Bay - it seems like only yesterday we were welcoming him into the world. He's growing up so fast (photo at the bottom of the newsletter).

Other than Jeremy's birthday, the most exciting local news of the last couple of weeks was construction starting on the new Sir Mark Dunajtschik Mental Health Centre at Hutt Hospital. Health Minister Simeon Brown, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and I joined Sir Mark to put the first ceremonial spade in the ground on this important project. Sir Mark has donated $50 million to this project and the government is investing $38 million to build a world class purpose-built facility. There will be 34 adult acute inpatient beds – ten more than the existing facility - and safer, more therapeutic spaces for those in urgent need. The new centre replaces a very tired and old facility that is well out of date. Construction is expected to finish in 2027.

It is an incredibly generous gift by Sir Mark, and comes on top of his amazing donation to the Wellington Children's Hospital, which is now up and running very successfully. We are very lucky to have great New Zealanders like Sir Mark contributing so generously to our country.

Turning to my Ministerial work - last week I launched the draft National Infrastructure Plan. We campaigned on developing a 30-year infrastructure plan for the country and the first draft was released last week by the Infrastructure Commission. Improving the way we plan, fund, maintain and build our infrastructure is critical to boosting economic growth and increasing productivity and living standards.

Contrary to many perceptions, New Zealand spends a lot on infrastructure. We are in the top 10% of the OECD for infrastructure investment spending over the last decade – but in the bottom 10% of the OECD when it comes to getting ‘bang for buck’ from our spending. As the Commission says, we need to “lift our game” and there are many draft recommendations in the draft plan that will help drive better value for money from public investment. Many of them align with things the government is already doing.

Working together across party lines in this area is very important so I'll be talking the Opposition about getting some consensus on some of the major issues we need to tackle in the next few years. Watch this space!

Law and Order: One area where there is a big divide between the government and the opposition parties is law and order. To put it simply - we believe in getting tough on crime, they don't. This week put that divide into stark relief. Paul Goldsmith and Mark Mitchell have announced the following just in this week alone.
* New offences to ensure those who assault on-duty first responders or prison officers spend longer in prison
* A specific coward punch offence to ensure perpetrators receive tougher sentences
* An infringement regime for shoplifting in retail premises and a strengthening of the penalties for theft
* A strengthening of the trespass laws to make them more effective and practical

As I said on Breakfast yesterday morning, we make no apologies for being tough on crime. The good news is that our efforts are starting to make a difference. One notable area is ram raids. There were 714 ram raids in 2022, 495 in 2023, 209 in 2024 and thus far 45 in 2025. So the numbers are clearly down but Chris Hipkins says ([link removed]) "Tory owners at NZME have just decided not to put it on the front page any more. It’s still happening, it’s just NZME have decided that it’s not in the Government’s best interests and they do the National Party’s singing for them and so they’re not covering it as much any more!". A pretty extraordinary spray really.

Have a great weekend. I'm off to New York for a week tomorrow for a series of meetings on housing, urban development and congestion pricing. We're soon to legislate for our own scheme in New Zealand and I want to make sure we learn the lessons from other countries and get it right. Back next weekend and straight back into it at Parliament for the back half of the year. Lots to do!

Chris


Sir Mark Dunajtschik Mental Health Centre
Thank you Sir Mark for your generous donation. Can't wait to see this new building open.
Backing the Billy Graham Youth Foundation

Delighted with the news that the Kauhanga - Creating Sacred Pathways programme run by the Billy Graham Youth Foundation will receive $1.953 million over three years thanks to funding from the Proceeds of Crime Fund. The programme provides physical and social development for high-risk young people and will receive $1.953m over three years to expand into eight areas.
Wellington Gold Awards

A wonderful night at the Wellington Gold Awards on Wednesday at the Embassy, celebrating success across the Wellington region. A pleasure to present the Supreme Award to Goodnature!
Pink Ribbon Breakfast

An awesome Pink Ribbon breakfast on Tuesday morning with guest speaker Nicola Willis - a delayed event after we had had to postpone from the original date. Thanks to everyone who came along - lots of money raised for the Breast Cancer Foundation.

Check out the plan here ([link removed]) .
Riverbank Markets

Thanks to everyone who came down to say hello on a wet winter day.
Out and About

Nothing like a sausage at the rugby! Enjoyed the big McBain clash between HOBM and Petone on Saturday.
Tempe Students visit the Hutt... and the 'Hive

I suspect you didn’t know that Lower Hutt has a sister city! We do - it’s Tempe in Arizona, USA. The students in this photo are part of the Hutt / Tempe Sister City Foundation exchange where students from Arizona come here to experience New Zealand and in return students from the Hutt go to the USA to experience life there. Claire, Piper, Hannah, Ella, Makaia, Rose, and Jemima came to see me in the Beehive.
Youth Parliament
Proud of my Youth MP, Lucy, who did a great job at Youth Parliament this week. Here she is sitting in my seat.
Good Progress!
Happy Birthday Jeremy!

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