A new era of hope and harmony

Diwali is an occasion to celebrate and spend with friends and families. I am pleased that it has become a national event, with festivities held across the country. 

The spirit of Diwali brings our communities closer together.  

Growing up in New Delhi, I remember visiting family and friends during the festival.  Our family would also donate food and clothes to people who were less fortunate than we were, to ensure that they too could enjoy the celebrations.

I am proud to represent our Indian community in New Zealand. 

It is a privilege to be able to help people and to represent your views at the highest levels of Parliament.

New Zealand is a diverse nation. The National-led government has strong links with the Indian Community.  We are dedicated to making New Zealand a better, and safer, place for you and your family.

We have listened to your concerns about law and order.

We are taking a number of steps to make our communities safer, including putting 600 more police officers on the beat.

We are ensuring that you have better access to healthcare, which is why we are providing additional funding to frontline health services. 

We will shortly begin building new elective-surgery supercentres to reduce the waiting lists in hospitals. 

We will also be signing up the first graduate health professionals to our voluntary bonding scheme to get more doctors, nurses, and midwives working in the hard-to-staff areas.

The National-led Government is also working to attract the right business migrants to New Zealand and create more jobs for Kiwis.

We recently introduced a revamped business migrant package, which aims to boost our economic performance by making New Zealand more attractive for business and entrepreneurial migrants.

We have recently streamlined the previously existing three categories for business migrants to two, with realistic requirements for capital, language skills and time spent in New Zealand annually.

We have also introduced the new ‘Entrepreneur Plus’ category, which complements the existing Entrepreneur category.

It will offer a faster path to residence for applicants who create at least three fulltime jobs and invest $500,000 in their business.

I am proud to be a part of a National-led Government that is working to secure a brighter future for all New Zealanders.

My wife Irvinder and I wish all Indian Newslink readers Happy Diwali.