Vanessa Weenink Explained

Vanessa Weenink
Birth Date:8 November 1978
Constituency Mp3:Banks Peninsula
Term Start3:14 October 2023
Parliament3:New Zealand
Predecessor3:Tracey McLellan
Party:National
Children:5
Alma Mater:University of Otago

Vanessa Joan Weenink (born 8 November 1978) is a New Zealand politician. She was elected as a Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Banks Peninsula, representing the National Party, in the 2023 New Zealand general election. She is a doctor by training.

Early life and family

Weenink was born on 8 November 1978 at Holmdale, the maternity hospital in Blenheim. Her parents were Ross and Joan Weenink.[1] [2] She grew up in Canvastown.[3] She is married to oncologist Matthew Strother; the couple share a blended family of five children.

Medical and military career

Weenink trained as a doctor and worked as a general practitioner for 20 years. She was also an army medical officer.[4] Weenink served nearly 22 years in the New Zealand Army and the New Zealand Territorials. During that time, she was deployed three times with two tours in Afghanistan and one in East Timor in 2006.[5]

Weenink became involved in medical advocacy in 2019, and was the deputy chair of the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) and chair of the NZMA's General Practitioners Council. She had previously been a member of the Labour Party and had campaigned alongside Duncan Webb in Christchurch Central in 2017, but resigned in order to be more involved with the NZMA. After the NZMA was disestablished in 2022, she joined the National Party.[6]

Political career

Weenink had previously been a member of the Labour Party and had campaigned alongside Duncan Webb in Christchurch Central in 2017, but resigned in order to be more involved with the NZMA. After the NZMA was disestablished in 2022, she joined the National Party. She sought the National Party nomination for Ilam for the 2023 general election, but was unsuccessful.

She was announced as National's candidate for Banks Peninsula in March 2023 and was also ranked 40th on the National Party. According to final results, Weenink won the electorate with an 396-vote lead over incumbent Tracey McLellan,[7] flipping the seat to National for the first time in over two decades (the electorate was last won by National in the).[8]

In Weenink's maiden parliamentary speech, she described herself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

In December 2023 it was revealed that Weenink disagreed with her party’s position on smoke-free legislation. Newshub uncovered previous Facebook comments from Weenink in April 2021 on the Facebook page of Labour Party MP Duncan Webb[9] [10] in which she stated her belief that "The nicotine level idea is a good one." in relation to the Labour governments smoke-free plans and legislation. She went on to refuse to provide comment on this stating that she now had a role as a backbench MP and it wasn't appropriate for her to comment. 

Notes and References

  1. News: Births . 19 October 2023 . . 14 November 1978 . 37.
  2. News: Joan Weenink . 19 October 2023 . . 23 November 2022.
  3. Web site: Q+A with Dr. Vanessa Weenink . Cantabrian Magazine . 19 October 2023 . 2 May 2023.
  4. Web site: Johnston. Martin. Hoping to be a doctor in the House: GP Vanessa Weenink eyes Banks Peninsula seat for National . 24 November 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230221110349/https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/hoping-be-doctor-house-gp-vanessa-weenink-eyes-banks-peninsula-seat-national . 21 February 2023 . 14 October 2023 .
  5. Web site: Weenink, Vanessa Hansard transcript . New Zealand Parliament . 11 December 2023.
  6. News: Gooch . Carly . Former Labour Party member becomes National candidate . Stuff.co.nz . 5 March 2023 . 14 October 2023 .
  7. Web site: Banks Peninsula – Official Result . . 4 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231123104114/https://archive.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2023/electorate-details-02.html. 23 November 2023. live.
  8. News: Chapman . Madeleine . Madeleine Chapman . Vanessa Weenink extends lead in Banks Peninsula, Tracey McLellan out of parliament . 22 November 2023 . . 3 November 2023.
  9. Web site: Duncan Webb Labour MP for Christchurch Central - In terms of better, healthier and longer lives reducing smoking is one of the best things we can do. We want to reduce smoking to under 5% and especially make sure young people do not take it up. The government is consulting on how to do this and you can make submission on it. Now watch for the spin from tobacco companies about how this will be the end of the world / create business failure / increase crime / be unfair and so on. In fact this is just about saving lives. Some ideas include: - Make smoked tobacco products less available - License all retailers of tobacco and vaping products - Significantly reduce the number of smoked tobacco product retailers based on population size and density - Restrict sales of smoked tobacco products to a limited number of specific store types - Introduce a smokefree generation policy - Make smoked tobacco products less addictive and less appealing - Reduce nicotine in smoked tobacco products to very low levels - Prohibit filters in smoked tobacco products - Prohibit innovations aimed at increasing the appeal and addictiveness of smoked tobacco products - Make tobacco products less affordable - Set a minimum price for tobacco - Increase investment in mass and social media campaigns - Increase investment in stop smoking services for priority populations If you want to have a say you can do so here: https://consult.health.govt.nz/tobacco-control/smokefree2025-actionplan/consultation/intro/ Facebook . 27 December 2023 . www.facebook.com . en.
  10. News: Health Minister Dr Shane Reti's iwi makes public appeal for him to stop the scrapping of smokefree laws . en . Newshub . 27 December 2023.

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