Pee Kay: Positive Discrimination?

Few would dispute that the government’s fundamental duty is to safeguard our individual rights, specifically freedom of speech, association, and movement, alongside the right to vote and equal access to public services.

Then the question must be asked; Is the government a proactive defender of our individual rights, or a silent witness to their decay? There is little evidence to suggest that the preservation of these rights occupies any significant space in current policy discussions.

It seems to me successive governments have forsaken careful deliberation for active erosion. We saw this reach a breaking point during the Covid era. In that period, we were sent a clear signal that our fundamental liberties can be and were dismantled by design, most definitely, not by accident!

For a democracy or a society to be truly fair and impartial, it must apply its laws and rights to everyone equally. It cannot say it is a true democracy if there are exceptions; If it dispenses special favours or privileges to preferred interest groups, then democracy has been abandoned!

Governments cannot achieve justice and equality by trading away the rights of the majority for the benefit of a few. Sadly, that is a philosophy that they often, conveniently, claim it to be “the only path to justice!”

Helen Clarke, a number of years ago, spoke on the need for “decolonising outcomes and achieving equity for Māori through deliberate action.”

Positive Discrimination! I remember her calling it that, although I expect she would deny that now!

In political double speak it would be called “affirmative action”.

But does not this debate take on a more meaningful importance when we look at the reality of our own communities? As a nation I believe we are caring and generous, we care for each other as neighbours and fellow citizens. However, we cannot ignore the tension currently pulling at the strands of society, especially in our societal governance and particularly around matters of race.

While the principle of equal law is vital, the reality can be decidedly different and the assertion that Maori in New Zealand society are “the beneficiaries of privilege” is the world many perceive!

During the 2023 election campaign we saw slogans like “Human rights are universal, not based on race” and “End division by race.” Yet our government sits passively on the sidelines as tensions grow. In fact, it could easily be argued their passivity is actually tacit support!

Those who are believers and proponents of Positive Discrimination hold a strong view that Maori are subjected to systemic deprivation, substandard housing, and poor health outcomes. They have no hesitation in claiming that the belief that “Māori are a privileged people” is deeply embedded in New Zealand culture.

Many non Maori would argue that Māori occupy a unique position of governmental and social privilege within New Zealand. While critics of that point of view will quickly point to abysmal Maori social statistics, advocates of the “Maori Privilege” view can easily refute that interpretation by highlighting an ever increasing framework of race-based entitlements and government initiated and sanctioned advantages.

At the heart, and possible, modern genesis of any debate about Maori privilege is the Kaupapa Māori Pathway. The Labour Government, specifically, then Minister of Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis, instituted the Kaupapa Māori pathways within the corrections system in 2021 as part of the Hōkai Rangi strategy to reduce high rates of Māori incarceration and reoffending.

The Kaupapa Māori pathway is a government funded, “by Māori, for Māori” model that critics increasingly view as a hallmark of ethnic privilege rather than universal need. While proponents argue it addresses systemic inequities through self-determination, the model operates on a separate, treaty-based framework that grants specific groups exclusive control over service design and delivery in education, justice, and health. Kaupapa Māori pathway is designed to replace Western centric systems with approaches that prioritise te reo, tikanga, and cultural identity.

The Kaupapa Māori pathway, as a “treaty based partnership”, received and continues to receive, significant government funding to address, those perceived, systemic inequities in housing, education, justice, and health.

In the budgets spanning the 2019 and 2021 period, $108 million in funding was allocated to Kaupapa Māori pathway. In the coalition budget of 2025, Kaupapa Māori pathways received $54m in operational and $50m in capital funding!

Under current coalition policies, this discriminatory funding must come under intense scrutiny for potentially undermining the principle of “one law for all”. The use of race-based procurement and dedicated cultural funding is seen by some as the antithesis of traditional democratic values, processes where public services are allocated based on individual circumstance rather than ancestry.

Surely this funding bias erodes New Zealanders’ equal citizenship and abjectly fails the test of equal rights?

It was in our health service that saw Maori enjoying exclusive health resource access that became a primary and substantial bone of contention. Critics of “race-based health” point to the massive shift toward Māori-specific commissioning, especially in taxpayer funding!

The Māori Health Authority was seen by many as the epitome of privilege of dual systems, where one ethnic group received a dedicated health structure.

The Labour government established the Māori Health Authority in 2022, creating a distinct health entity specifically for Māori. This move followed a Waitangi Tribunal finding and was intended to address “treaty breaches” and remedy long-standing health inequities. The establishment of this separate authority granted Māori independent health leadership and commissioning powers, marking the culmination of decades of advocacy for a Māori-led health system.

In 2010 the Whānau Ora model, a key policy initiative of the National-led coalition government, was introduced. For the 2025/26 financial year, the government has allocated $179 million to the model. This funding is managed through a “devolved” authorising model.

For “devolved” read delegated to Maori. Another “high trust” scenario? Thus, providing a level of autonomy not granted to other community service sectors.

Funding for Māori health providers nearly doubled in five years, rising from $529.8 million in 2019/20 to $999.8 million by 2023/24.

But get this, even with the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority by the coalition government in 2024, the $749 million previously managed by it remains dedicated to Māori frontline services, Hauora Māori services, focusing on local, community-driven care. As of mid-2024, the National led coalition government provided an additional $39 million cost-pressure uplift for the 2024/25 financial year specifically to support the commissioning and development of Hauora Māori services!

Add to that $38 million for 2025/26 and a further $37 million allocated for 2026/27!

Amazing, isn’t it? All this funding from a government that promised to rid the country of co-governance and shut down Te Whatu Ora!

Yes, Te Whatu Ora’s dead, but the taxpayer’s still bleeding!

Te Whatu Ora: Closed for business, but open for handouts!

Maori Housing and the argument for privilege in housing can be easily made when one focuses on the “Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga” program and its successors.

The $730 million Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga commitment, which ran until 2025, was designed specifically to accelerate Māori-led housing, including papakāinga, housing on ancestral land, and repairs to Māori-owned homes.

Government grants frequently cover not just the new builds, but also the underlying infrastructure costs associated with building on Māori land, a significant financial advantage that private developers or other community groups must often fund themselves. Some councils also provide specific funds to offset these costs.

Tauranga City Council offers a Papakāinga Housing Grant specifically to “pay” the city-wide development contributions for eligible projects on Māori land. Western Bay of Plenty Council applies a 100% deduction for additional dwellings in papakāinga developments for up to 10 dwellings, significantly reducing the upfront financial burden.

Te Puni Kokiri proudly proclaim on their web site that “many whānau commented on improved health in all areas. Mentally, physically, emotionally, socially and financially they were better off.”

As would any other New Zealander be with that support!

And here is another Labour government introduced “Maori Pathway”; The Whenua Māori and Marae Pathway was established following 2023, severe weather events in the North Island. Ostensibly to fund and support the relocation of marae and homes on Māori land, funding of around $136 million was allocated, supposedly, to recognise the Crown’s Treaty and legal obligations. That’s on top of Ardern’s shameless vote buying prior to the 2020 election with a $100 million upgrade for 351 marae nationwide!

I haven’t even touched on specific Maori funding in “Educational Pathways”. In the 2021/22 budget, over $150 million was ring-fenced for Māori education! And the Te Pitomata or Māori health workforce grants and various health research fellowships, some worth up to $1.2 million, are strictly limited to those of Māori descent.

Then there is the Māori Development Fund, $40.2 million per year to boost Māori-specific economic growth and infrastructure!

I hope with his brief outline, I have pulled back, at least a small part, of the curtain that shrouds a system of continual government sponsored, race centric, privilege. By prioritizing one “elite” group, the government has traded individual equality for political appeasement. This agenda thrives only because our MSM and schools have become drivers of ideological obfuscation. And of course, public apathy!

Positive Discrimination, an oxymoron in action!

Pee Kay writes he is from a generation where common sense, standards, integrity and honesty are fundamental attributes. This article was first published HERE