Party: Labour
Sender: Duncan Webb MP <[email protected]>
Date Received: 2025-07-02 08:55
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** Update for July 2, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Teenagers, eh? ------------------------------------------------------------ Saying “don’t do that” is a surefire way to get a teenager to do it. So it was a pretty bad idea to tell youth MPs not to criticise the Government (https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360742409/youth-parliament-participants-accuse-government-censorship) while at Youth Parliament this week. As Labour leader Chris Hipkins has said, that’s a breach of the spirit of Youth Parliament, and censorship. I want to encourage our young people to speak out on things that matter to them. Our rangatahi deserve a voice as much as anyone, and in fact have been treated poorly by this Government. With jobs hard to find, the Government has cut benefits for 18- and 19-year-olds, increased the cost for first home loans, scrapped the first home grant, killed fees free for the first year of study and reduced Kiwisaver contributions. Young people have the right to advocate for themselves and express their views. A majority of Youth MPs from all parties except NZ First have signed an open letter (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/565596/youth-mps-renew-call-to-lower-voting-age) calling for the voting age to be lowered. My youth MP Hineātea Alexander is currently in Wellington representing Christchurch Central and I know she’ll do a fantastic job representing young people in our electorate. Ngā mihi Duncan https://www.youtube.com/watch ** In the news ------------------------------------------------------------ As Labour’s Justice spokesperson I’ve been asked to comment this week on some of the Government’s initiatives, which are mostly just raising penalties without doing anything to prevent crime happening. I spoke to Morning Report this morning (https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018993825/crack-down-on-shoplifters-overdue-according-to-retailers) about the posturing of the Government in introducing fines for shoplifting - it’s confusing and unclear how this will work in practice, but it makes the Government look like they are doing something. I also gave my thoughts on increasing penalties for attacks on first responders. We agree that attacks on hardworking corrections, ambulance, police or fire staff are unacceptable but there are already harsher penalties for these attacks, and they haven’t worked. What those services need is better resourcing to minimise the danger of attacks. You can read my response here (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/565489/harsher-penalties-for-assaults-on-first-responders-not-effective-deterrent-labour) . Minister claims school lunch issues fixed - principal says “we’ve given up complaining”. ** More → (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/565671/how-good-have-school-lunches-been-in-term-two) ------------------------------------------------------------ New rules for selling alcohol across the city - in particular near the central city bus exchange. ** Details → (https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-christchurch/new-rules-around-alcohol-sales-adopted-christchurch) ------------------------------------------------------------ ** For your diary ------------------------------------------------------------ * Winter Fireworks at New Brighton Pier (https://www.facebook.com/events/1202153718308872) * Christchurch Brick Show (https://www.facebook.com/events/634469756238698) * Argentina Day at Riverside (https://www.facebook.com/events/1200740045112730) * Bird Adventures in the Botanic Gardens (https://www.facebook.com/events/1378651126704979) * Children’s theatre: Goldilocks & the Three Bears (https://www.facebook.com/events/1226529755863039/1226529792529702/) * Public meeting on pay equity - get your tickets now (https://events.humanitix.com/pay-equity-public-meeting-what-do-the-government-s-cuts-mean-to-you) ** Connect with me ------------------------------------------------------------ Follow me on social to keep in touch with our events and more. https://facebook.com/ https://instagram.com/ https://x.com/ https://tiktok.com/ https://linkedin.com/ View in browser (https://mailchi.mp/f4817b0ffb49/the-budget-that-leaves-women-out-13890215) Copyright (C) 2025 Duncan Webb, MP for Christchurch Central. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Duncan Webb, MP for Christchurch Central 282-290 Durham St North Christchurch, Canterbury 8013 New Zealand Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences (https://facebook.us17.list-manage.com/profile) or unsubscribe (https://facebook.us17.list-manage.com/unsubscribe)