An upcoming community event focused on public safety will be held in Glen Innes as part of National candidate Mahesh Muralidhar’s Tāmaki campaign, with fundraising efforts aimed at strengthening local community patrols.
The event will take place on Sunday, 5 July, at 7pm at Everybody Eats, a venue that Muralidhar says reflects the community-focused nature of the initiative. The social enterprise is known for creating meals from surplus food and serving the local community.
Muralidhar, National’s candidate for Tāmaki in the 2026 General Election, is a volunteer with the Eastern Bays Community Patrol and says public safety remains a major concern among residents.
While overall crime has fallen, Muralidhar said, “residents are still concerned following two recent stabbings on public transport and ongoing antisocial behaviour”.
Glen Innes is a key part of the Tāmaki electorate and an important transport hub, making safety improvements significant for the wider community, he told The Indian Weekender.
Through door knocking across the electorate, Muralidhar said he has consistently heard that public safety remains one of the community’s biggest concerns.
“As part of my campaign in Tāmaki, we’ve raised $15,000 to support the revival and growth of community patrols in the area,” he said.
The fundraiser will be attended by Mark Mitchell, along with representatives from Community Patrol New Zealand, volunteers from the Eastern Bays and Ellerslie Community Patrols, local community leaders and supporters.
The funds will help strengthen the Eastern Bays and Ellerslie patrols while also supporting efforts to re-establish the Glen Innes Community Patrol.
Muralidhar, chief executive of Phase One Ventures, was selected by local party members as National’s candidate for Tāmaki in the 2026 General Election.
A startup entrepreneur and mentor, Muralidhar previously contested the Auckland Central electorate for National in 2023 but was unsuccessful. Since then, he has continued engaging with the Tāmaki community, eventually leading to his nomination.
“I am really excited," Muralidhar told The Indian Weekender in an earlier interview in February this year.
"My wife Praveena and I live in this community. I am a member of the local community patrol. I mentor at the local schools. And I love this country,” Muralidhar told The Indian Weekender earlier this year.
“When the Trade Minister [Piyush Goyal] came [to New Zealand], he talked about ‘Karma Bhoomi’ and I feel a deep sense of duty to give back to this country that gave me so much,” he added, looking ahead to the upcoming elections.
“The Tāmaki electorate is a critical electorate to the National Party. Our focus is economic growth,” he said.
Outlining his priorities for the electorate, Muralidhar highlighted crime prevention, housing intensification, representation in Parliament and addressing the cost of living as key areas of focus, in an interview earlier this year.
Born in Kerala, India, Muralidhar has lived and worked internationally. He studied in Singapore and New Zealand and worked in Japan and Australia before returning to Auckland, which he now calls home.
He was also part of the founding team of Canva. After returning to New Zealand from Australia in 2020, he began offering free guidance from his Parnell home to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to build startups.
Looking ahead to the election campaign, Muralidhar said, “This wonderful community should know that there is a National Party candidate who is fighting for them, and who is making sure that they are extremely well represented.”