Vanessa Weenink

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. She grew up in Canvastown. 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. 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.

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.

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, flipping the seat to National for the first time in over two decades (the electorate was last won by National in the ).

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 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.