Ankit Bansal and Rima Nakhle join the General Election 2023 race
Venkat Raman
Auckland, March 27, 2023
Procurement professional Ankit Bansal and Executive Manager of Te Mahia Community Village Rima Nakhle have been selected by local Party members as the National Party candidates in Palmerston North and Takanini (Auckland) for the 2023 General Election.
Both of them thanked their local Party members for their endorsement.
Mr Bansal said that people in Palmerston North are living with the results of Labour’s economic mismanagement, whether that is through local median rents being $175 higher than they were in 2017 or through mortgage repayments skyrocketing thanks to record interest rates.
“People here don’t know where they’re going to find hundreds of dollars more every week before they even try to fill up the shopping trolley or the car,” he said.
Ms Nakhle said that people in Takanini work hard to get ahead but are drowning under sky-high mortgage repayments, rents and grocery prices fuelled by Labour’s economic mismanagement.
“The government is spending $1 billion more per week than in 2017 but outcomes have worsened. People in Takanini look at their bills and wonder how Labour can continue wasting taxpayer money while families struggle to cover the basics,” she said.
Both said that a National government will stop Labour’s wasteful spending and strengthen the economy and reduce the cost of living.
“We will support families with the cost of childcare with up to $75 per week in tax rebates and we will back people in Palmerston North and Takanini to get ahead. Education is the key to a better life and our new Teaching the Basics Brilliantly will give our children the skills that they need to succeed by prioritising reading, writing and maths. People in Palmerston North and Takanini are aspirational and we will always back policies which will help them get ahead,” they said in a National Party statement.
Mr Bansal said Crime is an issue often raised in Palmerston North.
“People say that they feel less safe now than they did a few years ago and the Police data backs this feeling. In 2022, the number of victimisations in Manawatū, including theft, burglary and assault, was more than 25% higher than in 2017. It is time to change our approach,” he said.
Ms Nakhle said that residents in Takanini also want to feel safe in their community and cracking down on crime will be another priority for her and her Party.
“In the Counties-Manukau Police District, the number of victimisations was 20% higher in 2022 than in 2017, a result of Labour’s soft-on-crime approach. The National Party will tackle the repeat youth offending behind a lot of the retail crime that we are seeing across Auckland. We will introduce Young Offender Military Academies to set serious young offenders on the right path and we’ll back our police to disrupt gang activity,” she said.
Mr Bansal and Ms Nakhle said that National is the Party of Law and Order.
“We will back our Police to tackle gang crime and we will increase the consequences for serious young offenders and set them on a more productive path with Young Offender Military Academies,” they said.
While Mr Bansal said that Palmerston North is home to so many innovative, creative and hardworking people, Ms Nakhle said that good education will be a key focus in Takanini.
“I love living here and I will be working hard to meet as many locals as I can to earn the right to represent them in Chris Luxon’s National team,” Mr Bansal said.
Ms Nakhle said that good education is the ticket to a better life, and education will be a key focus for a Chris Luxon-led National government.
“We will get our kids back on track with our Teaching the Basics Brilliantly policy, which will require all primary and intermediate schools to spend an average of an hour each day on reading, an hour a day on writing, and an hour a day on mathematics,” she said.
About Ankit Bansal
Ankit Bansal (34) was born in India and moved to New Zealand ten years ago. He was involved in advocating for split migrant families during Covid-19 border closures. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Punjab University, where he also gained an MBA.
Mr Bansal has also completed a procurement diploma and has worked in several procurement roles in New Zealand and India. He has lived in Palmerston North for five years.
About Rima Nakhle
Born in Sydney, Rima Nakhle made New Zealand her home more than a decade ago after marrying Roger and has since then been living in the Takanini electorate.
She has a Bachelor of Laws degree from Western Sydney University and was admitted to the Bar in New Zealand in 2014.
Ms Nakhle is the Executive Manager of Te Mahia Community Village, a family business providing emergency and transitional housing in Takanini. She established the Te Mahia Community Village Trust with her husband Roger several years ago, a Trust which aims to better the lives of families in the Village through sport, education and social activities.
She is passionate about her community and sponsors several local sports teams and athletes, as well as supporting community and charitable initiatives with a particular focus on education and sports for youth.
