Vanushi Walters

Vanushi Sitanjali Walters ( 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. She returned to Parliament as a Labour list MP in May 2025, following the resignation of David Parker.

Early life Walters was born in August 1981 in Sri Lanka. She is the great-granddaughter 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. Her second cousin was the murdered Sri Lankan journalist and human rights activist Richard de Zoysa. At the age of five she moved to New Zealand, via Zambia and Scotland, with her parents Jana Rajanayagam and Prithiva Rajanayagam (née Mather).

Legal career Walters is a human rights lawyer and has worked in private practice, the public sector and for non-profit and community organisations. She was general manager for YouthLaw Aotearoa and a member of Amnesty International's International Board. She became New Zealand's first Sri Lankan-born MP.

Walters delivered her maiden statement on 2 December 2020, announcing an intention to address racism, human rights injustices and climate change and listing Sir Bob Harvey, Chris Carter and Lecretia Seales as her mentors. During her first term in parliament she was deputy chair, and later chair, of the justice select committee. 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.

At the 2023 election, Walters once again stood in 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. Following David Parker's resignation, Walters returned to Parliament as a list MP on 12 May 2025. She is the Labour Party shadow attorney-general and associate spokesperson on foreign affairs, and a member of the justice select committee.

Personal life Walters is married to Rhys Walters and has three sons. She lives in Titirangi, West Auckland.