Parmjeet Parmar

Kushmiita Parmjeet Kaur Parmar (born 1970)[1] is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand parliament at the 2014 general election as a representative of the New Zealand National Party.

Parmjeet Parmar
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for National Party list
In office
20 September 2014 – 17 October 2020
Personal details
Born1970 (age 50–51)
Political partyNational
Spouse(s)Ravinder Parmar
Children2
Websitehttp://www.parmjeetparmar.co.nz/
Alma materUniversity of Pune
University of Auckland (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry, neuroscience
ThesisNeuroserpin regulates neurite outgrowth in AtT-20 and PC12 cell lines (2003)

Early life

Parmar grew up in India where her father served in the Indian Air Force. She completed a masters in biochemistry in India and in 1995 moved to New Zealand to join her husband. In Auckland, she gained a PhD in neuroscience and worked as a scientist. She worked as a current affairs and talkback host in radio broadcasting, and accompanied former prime ministers Helen Clark and John Key on their official visits to India. The National Party appointed her to the board of the-then Families Commission in 2013. She entered Parliament as a National list MP in 2014.[2]

Political career
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2014–2017 51st List 48 National
2017–2020 52nd List 34 National

In early 2014, Parmar was photographed wearing a National Party ribbon with John Key at an Auckland event. This led to Labour MP Rajen Prasad to question whether it was appropriate for Parmar to remain as a commissioner for the Families Commission, fueled also by rumours of Parmar's potential of running as a candidate for the 2014 general election.[3]

After originally contesting the National Party's Hunua selection, Parmar contested the Mount Roskill electorate at the 2014 election, placing second after Labour's Phil Goff. Ranked 48th on National's party list, she was elected as a list MP.

In November 2015, it was revealed housing officials tried to hide Parmar's attempt to use a Government housing roadshow to raise her profile in the Mount Roskill area.[4]

Parmar contested the 2016 Mount Roskill by-election[5] on 3 December 2016, but she was unsuccessful, with Labour's Michael Wood winning by a comfortable margin.[6] She was successful in campaigning for the party vote in the 2014 election, with National winning the party vote in the electorate for the first time since the seat's formation.[7] National won the party vote in the seat again in the 2017 election.[7]

During the 2020 general election, Parmar contested Mount Roskill but was again defeated by Wood, who retained the seat by a margin of 13,853 votes.[8] She lost her seat in Parliament altogether, as National did not win enough party votes for her to return on the list.[9]

References
  1. "Roll of members of the New Zealand House of Representatives, 1854 onwards" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. "Military upbringing aids National candidate Parmjeet Parmar's Roskill fight". The New Zealand Herald. 29 November 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  3. "Families Commission questioned over political links". Stuff. 12 March 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  4. "National MP busted 'trying to use taxpayer money for political campaigning'". The New Zealand Herald. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  5. Nicole Lawton (19 October 2016). "Parmjeet Parmar selected by National to contest the Mt Roskill by-election". Central Leader. Stuff. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  6. "Mt Roskill by-election: Labour candidate builds healthy lead". Radio New Zealand. 3 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  7. "Mt Roskill: Electoral Profile - New Zealand Parliament". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  8. "Mt Roskill - Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  9. Whyte, Anna (18 October 2020). "Analysis: The winners, losers, new faces and goodbyes of election 2020". 1 News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
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