ACT leader David Seymour expects his party will accord a high list placing to trailblazer former MP Parmjeet Parmar.
The first Indian-born woman to be elected to New Zealand’s Parliament, Parmar served six years as a National MP until 2020, and she switched to ACT recently.
Seymour said he hopes ACT’s board will select her to contest from the Pakuranga electorate in the October 2023 national elections. National’s Simeon Brown is currently the MP from the area.
Parmar said she was grateful for the opportunity to represent ACT and “make real change”, adding the country’s problems have only become worse since she left Parliament in 2020.
“Government has got bigger and is spending more, but our problems – crime, cost of living, the crisis in the health system – just keep getting worse,” she said in a press release issued by ACT.
Parmar said ACT is often the only party asking the hard questions and thinking long-term. “It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We need to do something different. We need a fresh new approach,” she said.
Seymour described Parmar as “a woman of principles, a scholar, and a successful businesswoman”. “She will be a great addition to the ACT team, and I look forward to working with her to make New Zealand a better place,” he said.
Parmar had previously run in the Mt Roskill electorate for National, but lost against Labour’s Phil Goff in 2014, and Michael Wood in 2017.
She told RNZ she is grateful for the opportunity and honour to be a National MP for two terms. “They are my friends, but this time - because I'm not a National Member of Parliament at the moment - while I have been out I have considered and now it's time that I go with ACT,” RNZ quoted her as saying.
Since leaving Parliament she had reportedly been running her business and was a board member for a hospice. She told RNZ, "Being back in the real world I actually realised even more the impact of government policies on businesses and communities alike and that's where I totally agree with ACT: that need to make a change in the direction of our country.”
RNZ quoted her as saying she would be focusing on the party vote, rather than the electorate. "It's all about party vote, so my goal is, I'm really grateful for the opportunity that ACT has given me to be part of their team, and my goal is to work with the team to achieve a great result at the election," she said.
Seymour said Parmar would be able to lead the conversation on biotechnology and genetics. “Parmjeet’s standing for ACT because she wants to promote science and business. ACT thinks it’s long overdue that we have a discussion particularly on genetics and biotech in New Zealand,” RNZ quoted Seymour as saying.