“The Labour Party is incredibly proud of the 2020 list, which reflects the growing diversity of New Zealand and the skills we need as we recover and rebuild together from COVID-19,” says Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Labour MP and Labour’s Associate Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities.
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“Our list is made up of talented candidates from across different ethnic communities who bring strong skill sets and unique perspectives to add to our existing Labour caucus. Labour has engaged widely across our diverse communities, strengthened our relationships with our stakeholders and delivered in government.”
“This new list sees people skilled in business, medicine, law, advocacy and human rights poised to join our Labour caucus. We have candidates who came to New Zealand as migrants, refugees and have worked across different communities. New Zealand is a very diverse society and I firmly believe that we are stronger as a nation because of it – not in spite of our diversity.
“Labour values our diverse ethnic communities. We have a strong and representative List, we are developing forward-looking policy to ensure that people from all our communities can reach their full potential in life. Through our engagement with a wide cross-section of people, we have a good understanding of the issues that our important to our ethnic communities and we will be working hard to address them.
“Our Minister for Ethnic Communities, Hon. Jenny Salesa, engages widely with our diverse ethnic and interfaith communities and is a strong advocate for change that will benefit our communities.
“Our government increased the Ethnic Communities Development Fund from $520,000 to $4.2 million per year – the largest increase since its inception; virtually doubled the capacity of the Office of Ethnic Communities; responded strongly to the needs of our communities after the Christchurch terror attacks and for the first time ever, is collecting ethnicity data for appointments to state sector boards with the aim of increasing our diversity on these boards.
“New Zealand’s diversity is one of our strengths, but we also know that people from every background look for similar things in life – a warm, dry home; quality education for their children; decent, secure work; to be safe and to be valued. Labour is the party that has always stood for a fair shot for everyone, regardless of their background. With a strong and diverse Party List, we look forward to running a strong campaign at this defining moment in our country’s history.”
Profiles of new candidates from ethnic communities
Dr Ayesha Verrall
Dr Ayesha Verrall is an infectious diseases specialist who led the work to improve the Government’s contact tracing programme to protect New Zealanders from COVID19. She is an elected member and Deputy Chair of the Capital and Coast District Health Board and works as an infectious disease doctor at Wellington Hospital.
Vanushi Walters
Vanushi Walters is a human rights lawyer and a senior manager at the Human Rights Commission. She was formerly the General Manager and Supervising Solicitor at Youth Law Aotearoa and sat on the international board of Amnesty International for six years, after holding the position of Vice Chair of the New Zealand board.
Naisi Chen
Naisi Chen is the director of a business consultancy firm specialising in employment relations and HR matters and an event management and concert promotion company. She sits on the board of Foundation North and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. She is the Vice President of the youth wing of the NZ Labour Party also sits on the Youth Advisory Group of Philanthropy NZ.
Ibrahim Omer
Ibrahim Omer is a unionist and community advocate. An Eritrean with a refugee background, Ibrahim worked as a cleaner for Victoria University before joining the Living Wage Movement, and working full time while studying Politics and International Relations. He is the Chair of Changemakers Refugee Forum and works as an organiser for the E Tu union.
I got a jump of 10 places this time: Dr Gaurav Sharma, Labour candidate from Hamilton West
“I got a jump of 10 places this time if you don’t count the Māori seat candidates/MPs like the last time. In 2017, I was placed at no. 70, with five Māori seats candidates not on the list. Only Kelvin Davis and Tamati Coffey were there. And this time I am placed at no. 65, with all the seven Māori seats included (would be 60 if Māori seat candidates were not included like last time). Also, apart from the list, I am very much looking forward to winning the Hamilton West electorate seat for Labour which is the bellwether seat of the country and in 16 of the last 17 general elections has gone to the largest party,” Dr Gaurav Sharma, Labour candidate from Hamilton West told this newspaper after the announcement of the Labour List on Monday.