Parmjeet Parmar


Kushmiita Parmjeet Kaur Parmar is an Indian-born-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.

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.

Political career

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.
After originally contesting the National Party's selection, Parmar contested the electorate at the, 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.
Parmar contested the 2016 Mount Roskill by-election on 3 December 2016, but she was unsuccessful, with Labour's Michael Wood winning by a comfortable margin. 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. National won the party vote in the seat again in the 2017 election.