Vanushi Walters

Vanushi Walters
வனுசி வோல்ட்டர்ஸ்
Walters in 2023
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Upper Harbour
In office
17 October 2020 – 14 October 2023
Preceded byPaula Bennett
Succeeded byCameron Brewer
Personal details
Born
Vanushi Sitanjali Rajanayagam

August 1981 (age 43)
Political partyLabour
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Auckland
University of Oxford
ProfessionLawyer

Vanushi Sitanjali Walters (née Rajanayagam; born August 1981) is a New Zealand lawyer and politician who served as Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party representing the Upper Harbour electorate from 2020 to 2023.

Early life

Walters was born in August 1981 in Sri Lanka.[1][2] She is the great-grand daughter of Ratnasothy Saravanamuttu, a member of the State Council of Ceylon and the first native Mayor of Colombo, and Naysum Saravanamuttu, Ceylon's second female MP.[3][4] Her second cousin was the murdered Sri Lankan journalist and human rights activist Richard de Zoysa.[5] At the age of five she moved to New Zealand, via Zambia and Scotland, with her parents Jana Rajanayagam and Prithiva Rajanayagam (nee Mather).[3][5]

Walters has a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Auckland and a master's degree in international human rights law from the University of Oxford.[6][7]

Walters is a human rights lawyer and has worked in private practice, the public sector and for non-profit and community organisations.[3][8] She was general manager for YouthLaw Aotearoa and a member of Amnesty International's International Board.[2][3] She was a senior manager at the Human Rights Commission and was a trustee of Foundation North.[3][8]

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2020–2023 53rd Upper Harbour 22 Labour

At the 2020 election Walters stood for parliament for the Labour Party in the Upper Harbour electorate and was ranked 22nd on the party list.[8] She won the seat over National candidate Jake Bezzant by a final margin of 2,392 votes.[9][10][11] She became New Zealand's first Sri Lankan-born MP.[12][13] During her term in parliament she was deputy chair, and later chair, of the justice committee.[14] She led the New Zealand delegation to the 2023 International Parliamentary Union meetings in Bahrain, where she drafted an emergency resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Rwanda.[15][16]

At the 2023 election, Walters once again stood in Upper Harbour but was defeated by National's Cameron Brewer by 11,192 votes. Walter's list placement was also too low to make it into parliament, making her one of the 14 first-term Labour MPs to lose their seat at the election.[17] As of March 2024, she is the highest-ranked member of the Labour list not in Parliament.

Personal life

Walters is married to Rhys Walters and has three sons, Elliott, Luka and Sacha.[3][18][19] She lives in Titirangi, West Auckland.[3][18]

References

  1. ^ "Vanushi Sitanjali RAJANAYAGAM WALTERS". Cardiff, U.K.: Companies House. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b "SL born lawyer Vanushi elected New Zealand MP". The Daily Mirror. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Stuff. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Introducing Vanushi Walters – First Sri Lankan-born Labour List member". SriLankaNZ. New Zealand. June 2020. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  4. ^ "SL born Vanushi elected New Zealand MP". Asian Mirror. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  5. ^ a b Fonseka, Dileepa (8 October 2020). "The Sure Things: Vanushi Walters". Newsroom. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Our Director". Auckland, New Zealand: The Current Limited. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Steering Committee Executive". Auckland, New Zealand: Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b c Coughlan, Thomas (15 June 2020). "Ayesha Verrall leads fresh-faced Labour party list for 2020". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Upper Harbour – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  10. ^ "Election 2020: Human rights lawyer Vanushi Walters is new Upper Harbour MP". Stuff. Wellington, New Zealand. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Vanushi Walters becomes first Sri Lanka born MP in New Zealand Parliament". NewsWire. No. Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  12. ^ Collins, Simon (18 October 2020). "Election 2020: Forty newcomers include our first African, Latin American and Sri Lankan MPs". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland, New Zealand. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  13. ^ "First Sri Lanka born MP in New Zealand Parliament". Daily News. Colombo, Sri Lanka. Stuff. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Walters, Vanushi - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  15. ^ "Backbench MPs take on Russia". RNZ. 2 May 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Gender equality major topic for MPs attending 145th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
  17. ^ "Upper Harbour - Official Result". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Spotlight on: Vanushi Walters". Office of Ethnic Communities. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Meet Vanushi". Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Upper Harbour
2020–2023 		Succeeded by