One thing has not changed: male MPs still outnumber the women — by 84 to 37

The new Parliament is a melting pot of ethnicities and religions, with our newly elected representatives ranging across age, background and sexual orientation.

But the next House of Representatives is male-dominated. Of the 121 members voted in at the weekend, 37 are women and 84 are men.

Among the oldest members is NZ First leader Winston Peters, 69, while the youngest is old enough to be his grandson: 24-year-old new CluthaSouthland MP Todd McClay.

This term will also see the largest number of Pacific Island members so far — Labour’s Kris Fa’afo’i, Jenny Salesa, Carmel Sepuloni, Su’a William Sio, Poto Williams and National’s Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and Alfred Ngaro.

The Asian and Indian communities are represented by four MPs from the National Party — Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Dr Parmjeet Parmar, Dr Jian Yang, Melissa Lee — and Mahesha Bindra from NZ First.

Mr Bakshi, who is the country’s first Indian-born Sikh MP, said the range of people chosen by Kiwis to be their democratically elected leaders was humbling.

“It shows that the demographic of New Zealand is changing and this is a true representation of our communities out there.”

Mr Bakshi acknowledged that his own electorate, Mangere East, and areas around South Auckland had big migrant populations — people from all the Pacific Islands, Asia and other parts of the world.

The number of Pasifika churches, mosques and gurudwara (Sikh temples) in and around the Manukau area was a reflection of the area’s changing demographics, he said, and that was true in other parts of Auckland, such as Mt Roskill and Mt Albert.

“I am a Sikh and there are about 20,000 Sikhs in New Zealand now. The awareness among the Indians is very important . . . but it’s not just them voting for me,” Mr Bakshi said.

“I feel that everyone is a Kiwi and we are proud to be Kiwis. And that is why we work hard for the economy and betterment of our country.”

As well as cultural diversity, this Parliament contains several openly gay MPs — Chris Finlayson, Grant Robertson, Kevin Hague, Jan Logie and Louisa Wall.

Their influence at a government level has already been felt with Ms Wall’s private member’s gay marriage bill passed last year. The bill, which took effect last August, came almost 30 years after homosexuality was decriminalised.

Transgender Labour candidate Kelly Ellis was beaten in the Whangarei electorate.

The Greens’ Mojo Mathers also returns to Parliament as the country’s first deaf MP.