Former journalist turned PR specialist Catherine Wedd will go up against her former colleague in a battle to become the Tukituki MP, after being selected by local party members as National's candidate. 

Wedd spent several years working as a broadcast journalist for a range of media outlets, including TVNZ in Wellington and Hawke’s Bay and the BBC in London. After leaving journalism, she was a director of Hawke’s Bay communications agency Attn Marketing PR, alongside Anna Lorck, the incumbent Labour MP. 

She is currently the Group Marketing and Communications Manager for Bostock New Zealand and is a Director on the New Zealand Apples and Pears Board.

While Wedd acknowledges she once worked with Lock, she says they hold "very different values" and have "different political views and different backgrounds." She also noted that she has worked with other Labour MPs in various roles as a journalist. 

Speaking to Hawke's Bay App this evening, Wedd said it is a privilege to have been selected and now be able to "campaign hard" ahead of the general election on October 14. 

“Tukituki is my home, it’s where we are raising our four kids and it’s a place I hold high aspirations for," Wedd says. I feel that I've got a diverse background which will connect with a lot of the voters in our electorate." 

“My job now is to get out there and meet as many people as I can across the electorate to earn their support to elect a National Government to deliver for Tukituki."

She plans on resigning from her position with Bostock New Zealand to focus on the campaign. "I am 100 per cent committed to getting out there and listening to voters' concerns."  

Wedd says she has been interested in politics since she was a little girl. Her late grandfather, Bill Tolhurst, was the National Party MP for Whanganui from 1969-1972. 

"I've got a strong family history with the National Party. It's always been in my blood and I've always been interested in politics. I studied politics at university and then I was also a New Zealand Youth MP and represented the Youth Parliament in 1997. So I've always had an interest in politics and obviously, as a former TV1 news reporter, I worked down in Wellington and covered a lot of political stories in my job." 

Now, as a 43-year-old married mother of four school-aged children, she believes it is the right time to stand and bring her experience and background to the National Party and the Tukituki electorate. 

Since moving to Hawke’s Bay 12 years ago, Catherine has become involved in several community organisations including as organiser of the Peak Trail Blazer fundraising event and formerly as an executive committee member of the Havelock North Business Association.

Catherine Wedd. Photo/Supplied.

“People in Tukituki work hard and are struggling to get ahead as the cost-of-living crisis makes everything more expensive and our world-class primary sector and hospitality businesses struggle for staff thanks to a Labour Government that doesn’t understand the needs of Tukituki. 

"Labour’s economic mismanagement has forced the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates in an attempt to keep the lid on inflation. For families in Hawke’s Bay, that means $500 more every fortnight added to their mortgage repayments.

“We need a government focused on the issues that truly matter to people in Tukituki like addressing the cost-of-living crisis, cracking down on crime, and delivering better health, education and other public services. I know a Christopher Luxon-led National Government would do exactly that." 

She would not be drawn into comment regarding allegations of "dirty politics" surrounding her selection as candidate.  

Lorck did not respond to requests by Hawke's Bay App for comment. 

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