Venkat Raman
Auckland, June 30, 2023
Former National Party MP Agnes Loheni is certain to return to Parliament after the general election on October 14, 2023.
She was National MP from 2019 to 2020 and the Party’s Associate Spokesperson for Small Business and Pacific Peoples.
Ms Agnes is married to Ward Kamo, Regional Chair of the National Party and a Celebrity Speaker. They have five children, all living in Auckland.
She has just been declared a ‘List Only Candidate,’ which means that she is likely to be ranked high on the list ensuring her seat in the debating chamber.
We understand that there will be five List Only Candidates of the National Party, one of whom would be Gerry Brownlee, who had earlier said that he would not like to contest from the Illam Constituency in the South Island.
There are candidates from both Labour and National who seek such a status. Grant Robertson the current Finance Minister will be high on the Labour List, having relinquished his Wellington Central seat to Ibrahim Omer. In the 2017 general election National Party Leader Bill English was a List Only Candidate.
About Agnes Loheni
A friend of Indian Newslink for many years, Ms Loheni was born and raised in Auckland.
A Samoan by descent, she completed her Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the University of Auckland. She is the owner of MENA, a successful clothes shop for women, which was established in Samoa about 20 years ago. Ten years later, it expanded its operation in Auckland as a wholesaler, retailer and exporter.
Ms Agnes won the SunPix, a Pacific People’s Award for Enterprise in 2015 and was declared the MIT Pacific Business Trust Exporter of the Year in 2010.
Passionate about growing Pacific success and enterprise, she provides free mentoring services to small business owners and is regularly asked to share her business journey at community, school or business networks events.
Ms Agnes said that she will campaign for National to secure the Party Vote across the diverse communities in New Zealand but focusing on Auckland.
Issues of concern
“People are crying out for a government that will address the issues that matter to them most. I will be sharing with people how National will be that government if we earn the right to govern. We want to get New Zealand back on track,” she said.
According to Ms Agnes, the cost-of-living crisis, rising crime and worsening outcomes in education and health are issues that concern families in Auckland.
“I am thrilled to be able to campaign on National’s suite of policies to fix these issues. National has the best policy platform of any political party in recent memory at this stage in the election cycle. Whether it is our plan to tackle inflation, attract and retain nurses and midwives, crack down on serious young offending and gang crime, or teach the basics brilliantly in schools, people are increasingly seeing National as the only Party that is able to fix our economy and deliver for all New Zealanders,” she said.
