Labour list MP Dan Rosewarne, based in Waimakariri, has called for talks with the developer behind a controversial Pegasus golf course redevelopment, saying he wants to hear the final plans before drawing conclusions.

Rosewarne said he was meeting Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon on the matter, and warned the Government could face a fight if it allowed the project to proceed through the fast track consenting process without properly engaging the community.

“The Pegasus Residents Group is well organised and the Government has a fight on its hands if it does let the developer go down that fast track route,” Rosewarne said.

The Pegasus Residents Group has organised a community meeting to discuss the issue on June 2 at Pegasus School hall, after interest outgrew the original Woodend venue.

On the New Zealand First member’s bill to define biological sex in law, Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink said she had received significant correspondence from constituents.

She said the main concern was what many saw as the erasure of biological definitions from public life, including government documents.

“That’s what a lot of people are saying, and also the safety that women feel in public spaces,” Weenink said.

Weenink said National would support the bill to select committee so legal issues could be worked through, including an “unintended consequence that could create age discrimination problems in some areas of law.”

Rosewarne said Parliament had more pressing priorities. “Right now families are crying out for help with the cost of living, not this kind of stuff,” Rosewarne said.

“The question is what problem does this actually fix for a family who can’t afford their groceries this week.”

On Labour’s Future Fund, Rosewarne defended the party’s position of working through detailed settings after the election, saying getting it right mattered more than rushing out figures.

“We’re not going to pluck a number out of thin air just to win a headline,” Rosewarne said.

Weenink hit back, saying Labour was asking voters to trust a policy with no modelling behind it.

She warned of a potential $3 billion hole in the fund over 3 years, given the dividends currently flowing from state owned enterprises into funding hospitals and schools.

“I just find it arrogant to say that the people of New Zealand don’t care about this, especially when times are tough and they’re having to tighten their belt,” Weenink said.

On the Government’s plan to cut 9000 public service jobs to save $2.4 billion, Weenink said the focus was on back office duplication, digitalisation and efficiency.

She said frontline services including teachers, nurses, police and doctors would not be affected.

“The public service grew by 18,000 people over six years under Labour, which was massively out of line with the growth of the general workforce,” Weenink said.

Rosewarne said the Government had not been clear enough about which services would be lost.

“Until Vanessa and her colleagues can clearly explain what services will be lost, New Zealanders are right to be worried about what this really means on the ground in our communities,” Rosewarne said.