Reelected from the Jandakot constituency with a 64.5% majority, Yaz Mubarakai (pictured) retained his seat in the Western Australia state elections on March 13, 2021. Four years earlier when he was elected, he became the first Zoroastrian member of parliament in Western Australia. Mubarakai has been appointed parliamentary secretary to Dr Tony Buti who is minister for finance, lands, sport and recreation, citizenship and multicultural affairs in the McGowan Labor government. A brief video of Mubarakai taking his oath was shared with Parsiana by Pervez Irani of Dahanu.
"The success of our community has been my highest priority. I have worked tirelessly to ensure that your concerns are addressed… We have introduced four new schools, invested nearly a billion dollars in transport infrastructure including METRONET (responsible for managing extensions to Perth’s transport network), and upgraded several of our community facilities. I have always made myself available to hear your concerns because I care…” In his election campaign 45-year-old Mubarakai referred to his and the Labor Party’s contributions during the four years he has been MLA.
Having served as a councillor for the City of Cockburn helped him gain "an insight into the importance of well-planned and serviced communities.” Realizing that his constituency had the fastest population growth rate in the country, Mubarakai expressed concerns about overcrowding in schools and lack of job opportunities that his Labor Party was trying to address.
After his schooling in Dahanu and graduation in commerce from the H. R. College in Bombay, Mubarakai had worked in the marketing department of MTV before migrating to Perth in 1997 (see "MLA Mubarakai,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, May 7, 2017). He earned his Masters in International Business, Marketing, Commerce and Finance, and a diploma in Information Technology from Edith Cowan University, Perth. Residing in Western Australia for nearly 24 years the enterprising businessman ran the post office at Success, a suburb of Perth, and two restaurants there, Café Royal and Majestic India, while raising two children, son Zyshawn and daughter MJ (Maherzia), with his wife Jero. In his spare time, he plays for the Leeming Spartans Cricket Club and indulges in social sports with his children on weekends.
When addressing the gathering at the 11th World Zoroastrian Congress in Perth (see "Reinvigorating the religion,” Parsiana, August 7, 2018) Mubarakai appreciated that Zoroastrians are "humanitarian, innovative and entrepreneurial” but was concerned that "today’s leadership lacks youth” and the "children in the globalized world are stuck in front of their screens. If we do not accept that (generational) difference, the community will risk further fragmentation.”