PRESS RELEASE: NZNCC holds interaction with the leaders of the ACT and Opportunity parties

PRESS RELEASE: NZNCC holds interaction with the leaders of the ACT and Opportunity parties 16 October 2026, Auckland NZNCC and Nepali business leaders held interaction meetings today with the ACT Party leader Simon Court and Opportunity Party leader Mark Roach. ACT Party leader and MP Simon Court: Simon Court is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Infrastructure and the Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform. He is the ACT spokesperson for Climate Change and Energy and Resources. He is also the ACT candidate for Kaipara ki Mahurangi, a constituency located in northern Auckland region. The agendas discussed during the interaction involved ACT’s policies on Small Business, Immigration and Foreign Policies. Leaders from both sides agreed that trade and business should be the focus of bilateral relations between Nepal and New Zealand, instead of humanitarian assistance. MP Court informed that ACT would not introduce new taxes on businesses, and that they would introduce policies to cut the red tape so that it is easier to run a business. On immigration, MP Court was of the view that New Zealand needed to simplify the process to recognise degrees gained overseas from competitive Universities. He further added that New Zealand also needs to reform its registration process for professional practices if it were to fill the gap in skilled workforce such as that in GP and nursing. Opportunity Party leader Mark Roach: Mark Roach is the Opportunity Party candidate for Waitākere, a West Auckland constituency. Just like the Opportunity Party, Mr Roach is new in politics. As a small business owner himself, who specialises in music ecosystem consultancy and design, Mr Roach keenly listened to the concerns and stories of the NZNCC leaders who themselves are also small business owners. During the interaction, Mr Pukar Shahi, the owner of The Uglyz Cafe and Bar, shared about practical problems his business continues to face on an ongoing basis. One of those problems was access to credit. Mr Roach was of the view that access to credit for businesses should be simplified. He added that Opportunity had a vision for the ‘new economy’ that would cater for the future generation. Mr Roach discussed Opportunity’s land based tax system and how it would be a more fair and equitable basis of taxation compared to the conventional taxation which was introduced before the Berlin Wall fell. On immigration, the leaders discussed skilled migration and parental visa issues. Mr Roach was of the view that skilled migration should be seen as more than merely transactional. Migrants also add other values to New Zealand such as cultural diversity and global perspectives, according to Mr Roach. It was discussed that rules around parental visas are due for a revision because the existing rules are punitive and that it is not helping New Zealand to retain its hard working workforce and entrepreneurs. President of NZNCC Raj Maharjan said that, ‘Nepal has a natural strategic advantage in the South Asia region, which is yet to be explored to its full potential by New Zealand to expand its trade and business opportunities in the region. Nepal’s population of 30 million is six times the size of New Zealand's, which is a respectable size of the customer base to export New Zealand products. There is potential in attracting more of the 150,000 Nepali international students who go overseas to pursue higher education to New Zealand. Among the growing number of the global Nepali diaspora, a good number are exploring opportunities for investment. New Zealand could attract those investors with favourable policies.’ NZNCC is conducting a series of interactions with the major political parties of New Zealand. The general election is being held on the 7th of November 2026. ‘We want to engage with the leaders of the political parties before the election because we want to know what are the policies of the major political parties leading up to the election in big issues such as business, immigration and foreign policy. The leaders and the parties we are meeting today will form the government after the election. They will make policies that impact our business and life in general. Our on-going engagement with the political parties is only a beginning of conversation. We will continue our engagement after the general election regardless of who forms the government and who will be in the opposition’. The engagements today were represented by the President of the NZNCC Mr Raj Maharjan and business owner Mr Pukar Shahi. Both meetings were held at the Uglyz Cafe and Bar in New Lynn, West Auckland. NZNCC, 16 October 2026