An update from Hon Amy Adams
MP for Selwyn

I hope you all had an enjoyable Show weekend, whether you visited the Canterbury A & P Show as I did, or took the opportunity to go away for a couple of days.

Dealing with deportees

You will have no doubt seen a lot of media coverage recently around individuals with New Zealand citizenship being deported back here after serving prison terms overseas. In my role as the Minister for Justice I have been working on a number of measures to strengthen New Zealand’s ability to monitor deported offenders, including a register to track these individuals, an information sharing agreement with Australia and new legislation, the Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Bill, which was passed by Parliament last week. This will ensure that criminals being returned to New Zealand are subject to the same sort of oversight as offenders who had served a similar prison sentence here.

Appointment of Chief Victims Advisor

A key focus for me within my Justice and Courts portfolios is on ensuring that victims’ needs are put at the forefront of the justice system. With this in mind, I was pleased to be able to announce recently that Dr Kim McGregor has been appointed to the new role of Chief Victims Advisor. I look forward to working with Dr McGregor on improving outcomes for victims.

New hotel for Christchurch International Airport

I always like to keep up to date with developments at Christchurch International Airport due to its role as the international gateway to our district as well as the fact that the airport falls within the Selwyn electorate boundaries. I was excited to learn recently that the airport is considering developing a second airport hotel near the terminal in response to growing passenger numbers and the strong outlook for continuing growth in our tourism industry. The proposed hotel is likely to have 200 to 300 rooms and will be built in two stages, with the first targeted to open in 2017/18.

Out and about in Selwyn

The past few weeks have been a busy time in our region with events including the opening of the Banks Peninsula War Memorial in Akaroa by the Governor-General, Lt Gen. the Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae; Southbridge’s 150th celebrations; the Ashburton A & P Show in late October; and the Hororata Highland Games on November 7th. This list is by no means exhaustive as I know there have been many other community events happening.

150th Reunion at Leeston Consolidated School

At the end of October, Leeston Consolidated School celebrated 150 years since the school’s opening back in 1865. In the 1930s and 1940s a number of small rural schools in neighbouring communities such as Irwell, Doyleston and Brookside were closed, and the students moved to Leeston which then became known as “Leeston Consolidated School”.

It was great to see the present day students of the school celebrating the milestone in a number of ways, including making a “150” out of brightly decorated stones and dressing up in clothes like those that children would have worn back in the 1800s.

Celebrating Diamond Harbour’s outstanding firefighters

I was honoured to attend an awards night this month for two members of the Diamond Harbour Volunteer Fire Brigade. Retiring Chief Fire Officer Don Cameron was awarded his Double Gold Star for 50 years’ service and Senior Station Officer Barry Craw, who is taking on the role of Deputy Chief Fire Officer, received his 25 year service award. I have a huge amount of respect for our local firefighters and the job they do so it was great to be part of this event to recognise the outstanding contribution of these two men to the local community.

The Awards night also marked 60 years of the Diamond Harbour Fire Brigade’s existence.

Opening of refurbished classrooms at Darfield Primary School

This month I visited Darfield Primary School to inspect and open the school’s newly refurbished classroom block, which is looking great. While I was there I got to meet some of the school’s awesome students and some of the contractors who had worked on the project.

I welcome your thoughts and feedback on all matters so be sure to contact me at selwyn.office@parliament.govt.nz or like my Facebook page and tell me what's on your mind.

Kind regards,

Hon Amy Adams
MP for Selwyn

ENDS

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