Election 2020: Busy first week for new Christchurch MPs

Sarah Pallett. Photo / Supplied

Christchurch's two new MP's have had a busy first week in Wellington, and are now back in Christchurch ready to "hit the ground running".

Labour's Tracey McLellan took the Banks Peninsula electorate at the election on October 17th, a seat previously held by long-serving Labour MP Ruth Dyson, who retired.

Meanwhile, Labour's Sarah Pallet ousted National's Gerry Brownlee in one of the biggest upsets of the 2020 election.

Pallett, a former midwife, said she was in Wellington the day after the election and has had an "extremely busy" week in the capital.

"I had a moment when I was walking down the hill on Monday when I looked at the Beehive for the first time and I thought, yep we did this," she said.

She had spent the week in inductions with the Labour party and the Parliamentary Service and was now back in Christchurch.

"The first thing I want to do is catch up with the volunteers," she said.

Next on the list was setting up an office.

Meanwhile, McLellan said there were a "million-and-one" things for her team to do.
"First things we need to do is get our office up and running."

Tracey McLellan. Photo / Supplied

Several issues in the electorate had emerged during the election campaign, she said, especially in the year of Covid-19.

"It's jobs, jobs, jobs, and growing the economy," she said.

She described her new job as "fantastic, very humbling, but really exciting as well".