Andrew Dickens: This policy should've been placed in the "not now, not ever" pile

The first thing I thought when I heard of the new surgical wait list criteria policy which includes ethnicity is that Labour wants to lose this election.

If their strategists didn't immediately see the risks in this policy then what are they doing in the job.

After an autumn full of racially tinged politics where it is obvious that that National and Labour are more than willing to hoe into any policy favouring Maori and Pacific Islanders, this should have been placed in the "not now, not ever" pile.