New Zealand got its first-ever Indian-origin minister on Monday after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern inducted five new ministers into her executive.
Born in India, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, 41, went to school in Singapore before moving to New Zealand to further her education.
Priyanca is the daughter of Paravoor Madavanaparambu Raman Radhakrishnan and Usha. Even though she has her roots in Paravoor, most of her relatives are based in Chennai – where she was born.
Priyanca has spent her work life advocating on behalf of people whose voices are often unheard “women survivors of domestic violence, and migrant workers who have been exploited.
“Today has been an incredibly special day. I’m feeling a lot of things including an overwhelming sense of privilege to become part of our Government,” the 41-year-old Labour Party leader said.
“Huge thanks to everyone who has taken the time to message/call/text congratulatory messages- thank you all. Humbled to be appointed a Minister and I’m looking forward to working with an incredible line up of Ministerial and caucus colleagues this term,” she said in a Facebook post.
In September 2017, she first got elected as a Member of Parliament belonging to the Labour Party. Later, In 2019, she was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Ethnic Communities.
According to New Zealand’s multi-platform news service Newshub, Ardern has appointed a ministerial lineup of several MPs for the first time in the parliament.
New Zealand’s leader appointed a Christchurch local and member of Labour Party as Minister of Energy and Resources, and housing and a former teacher Kelvin Geoffrey Davis as Minister for Education and Children.
Jacinda Ardern formed the first single-party government since 1996 with an absolute majority of seats under the country’s MMP system due to her landslide election victory.
Meanwhile, Ardern told reporters in Wellington that the next three years will be very challenging for her government, sources of Newshub confirmed. She accredited these challenges for New Zealand to the global outlook worsening and the ongoing effect of COVID-19.
Announcing the names of the new ministers, Prime Minister Ardern said: “I am excited to be bringing in some new talent, with first-hand experience in the areas that they will be working in, and reflecting the New Zealand that elected us on the 17th of October.
“Within this lineup, I’m playing to people’s strengths,” she said.
“This is a Cabinet and an executive that is based on merit but also happens to be incredibly diverse,” Ardern said, days after her centre-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in the country’s general election.
If ministers don’t deliver, they will be shown the door, Ardern warned.
