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Rajen Prasad

Rajen Prasad
QSO
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour Party list
In office
2008–2014
Personal details
BornSuva, Fiji
NationalityFiji
New Zealand
Political partyLabour
Children2
CommitteesSocial Services Committee

Rajen Prasad QSO is an Indian-born politician from New Zealand. He was elected to represent the Labour Party on the party list at the 2008 general election and retired in 2014.

Professional life

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Prasad is of Indo-Fijian descent.[1][2] Prasad has a PhD from Massey University, completed in 1986.[3] Prasad led Massey University at Albany during its establishment in 1993 and was Race Relations Conciliator between 1996 and 2001.[4] In the 2003 New Year Honours, Prasad was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.[5]

In June 2004 Prasad was appointed as the first Chief Commissioner of the newly established Families Commission, serving until 2008.[4]

He joined the board of the Bank of Baroda's New Zealand office in 2008 [6] and remained a director of the Bank until 2016.[7]

Member of Parliament

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2008–2011 49th List 12 Labour
2011–2014 50th List 20 Labour

At the 2008 election Prasad was placed at number 12 on the Labour Party list and was subsequently elected to Parliament. This was a very high list placing, far in advance of many sitting cabinet ministers. He was re-elected, albeit at a lower list placing of 20, in 2011.

In 2008, Prasad was appointed Labour's spokesperson for Voluntary and Community Sector, and associate spokesperson for Ethnic Affairs and Social Development – Family and CYF by Labour leader Phil Goff.[8] He was later appointed spokesperson for Ethnic Affairs, as well as associate spokesperson for Social Development.[9]

In 2013 under the new leadership of David Cunliffe, a new Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle was announced with Prasad the Spokesperson on Immigration, Associate Spokesperson for Ethnic Affairs and Associate Spokesperson for Social Development (CYFS).[10] Prasad announced his plans to retire ahead of the general election in September 2014.[2][11]

Since leaving Parliament, Prasad has been appointed a Commonwealth Envoy with special responsibility for Lesotho working directly in Africa to help develop better Political practices.[12][13]

References

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  1. ^ Back Benches (29 April 2009). "Back Benches–episode 13" (video). TVNZ. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Indian-origin MP in New Zealand, Rajen Prasad to retire in September". news.biharprabha.com. Indo-Asian News Service. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  3. ^ Prasad, Rajen (1986). Transitions in foster care : the development of training programmes for foster care workers (Doctoral thesis). Massey Research Online, Massey University. hdl:10179/3582.
  4. ^ a b "Beehive – Families Commissioners appointed".
  5. ^ "New Year honours list 2003". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2002. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  6. ^ McBeth, Paul (1 September 2009). "Bank of Baroda to open in NZ". Stuff.co.nz. Business Wire. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  7. ^ "Companies Register". New Zealand Companies Office. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  8. ^ "Five newcomers to Labour's frontbench".
  9. ^ "Labour Leader reveals new caucus line-up".
  10. ^ "Rajen Prasad". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  11. ^ "MP Rajen Prasad retires". The Global Indian. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  12. ^ "Special Envoy for Lesotho Releases Guidelines on Coalition Formation". Commonwealth. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  13. ^ "Commonwealth warns coalition government". Lesotho Times. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2015.