Rima Jillian Nakhle is an Australian-born New Zealand

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

politician and a member of parliament for the Takanini electorate in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

Early life and career

Nakhle was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia, to parents of Lebanese origin. She attended

Western Sydney University Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus public research university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university in its current form was founde ...

and completed a law degree. She is an enrolled barrister and solicitor. She moved to New Zealand in 2012, after marrying her husband Roger Nakhle. His parents are also of Lebanese descent, and lived in the suburb of The Gardens, which is now part of the Takanini electorate. In 2014, Nakhle was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in New Zealand. Nakhle was the executive manager of Te Mahia Community Village, a transitional and emergency housing service converted from a former camping ground owned by her husband's family. The camping ground was reportedly a centre of homeless activity prior to its formal conversion; when Nakhle moved to New Zealand, she applied for permission to officially convert it to a "community village". Her proposal originally faced pushback, with government officials concerned the area would turn into a locus of antisocial behaviour. Nakhle stated in 2020 that Ministry of Social Development considered Te Mahia "the poster boy for community villages". She also established Te Mahia Community Village Trust, which provided sport, education and social activities for up to 300 village members.

Member of Parliament

In June 2020, Nakhle was selected over sitting list MP Agnes Loheni as the

candidate for the newly established Takanini electorate. ''

Newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editing, editors, and Television producer, producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visu ...

'' described her campaign that year as "an old school, grass roots campaign", focused on in-person

canvassing Canvassing, also known as door knocking or phone banking, is the systematic initiation of direct contact with individuals, commonly used during political campaigns. Canvassing can be done for many reasons: political campaigning, grassroot ...

rather than app-based advocacy. She estimated in October 2020 that she had door-knocked 3,000 houses since that June. Despite having been predicted to win the seat, she was unsuccessful in the

2020 New Zealand general election The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd New Zealand Parliament. Voters elected 120 members to the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives, 72 fro ...

, losing to Neru Leavasa by over 4,500 votes. Nakhle was re-selected as National's Takanini candidate for the

2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election was held on 14 October 2023 to determine the composition of the 54th New Zealand Parliament, 54th Parliament of New Zealand. Voters elected 122 members to the unicameral New Zealand House of Representatives ...

, held on 14 October 2023. She defeated the incumbent Leavasa by a margin of 8,775 votes. She is deputy chair of the Māori affairs committee and a member of the justice committee. A member's bill in Nakhle's name, the Corrections (Victim Protection) Amendment Bill, was selected for introduction in February 2024. The bill proposes to prevent victims of crime and those subject to a protection order from being contacted by prisoners. It unanimously passed its first reading in March 2024 and was sent to the justice committee.

Views and positions

In both 2020 and 2023, Nakhle campaigned on a 'tough on crime' approach, saying National would set up military academies for youth offenders. She is also opposed to recreational use of cannabis. She said she voted against legalising euthanasia and

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

in the 2020 referendums.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahkle, Rima Living people New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 2023 New Zealand general election Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Australian emigrants to New Zealand Australian people of Lebanese descent New Zealand people of Lebanese descent Year of birth missing (living people)