David Farrar: A return to sanity

A very important cabinet circular:

The Government seeks to ensure that all New Zealanders, regardless of ethnicity or personal identity, have access to public services that are appropriate and effective for them, and that services are not arbitrarily allocated on the basis of ethnicity or any other aspect of identity. …

Cabinet expects agencies will recognise that there are many variables that can be used to identify and assess need, and that all variables should be considered before ethnic identity is automatically used to determine need.

So it is not a ban on any service based on ethnicity, but it sets a very high threshold – as opposed to the current near zero threshold.

Also Nicola Willis has announced:

“The Government also wants to ensure that Government contracts are awarded within a robust and merit-based framework that focuses on delivering public value.

“As such Cabinet has removed the previous Government’s target for 8% of government agencies’ annual contracts to be awarded to Māori businesses.

“This target risked a perception of discrimination and gave the impression of an uneven playing field for suppliers.

No perception about it. This was a terrible policy. Let’s say there are two companies competing for a government tender. Both produce work of the same quality and price.

One is owned by five people, who are all very wealthy. One of them has Maori ancestry through their great great great grand father. They qualify for the 8% quota. The other company is owned by five people, none of whom are very wealthy. They are a mix of races, but none of them Maori. They do not qualify.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.