The Government has formally laid out its expectation that public services should be delivered based on “the needs of all New Zealanders”, fulfilling a coalition agreement secured by Act and New Zealand First that “need” should be prioritised over “race”.
The coalition has also scrapped a policy introduced by the former Labour administration that government agencies should ensure at least 8% of their annual procurement contracts were awarded to Māori businesses.
The Cabinet Office issued a circular – essentially a formal notice – on Friday setting out the Government’s expectations for “how the targeting, commissioning and design of public services should be based on the needs of all New Zealanders”.
Both Act and NZ First’s coalition agreements with the National Party include similar provisions to issue such a Cabinet circular saying public services “should be prioritised on the basis of need, not race”.
While the coalition agreement with NZ First said that should be done “as a matter of urgency”, the Act document said the notice should be issued “within the first six months of Government”. The coalition missed that self-imposed deadline, with the six-month anniversary being May 27.
The circular says all New Zealanders, “regardless of ethnicity or personal identity”, should have access to public services “that are appropriate and effective for them” and “services are not arbitrarily allocated on the basis of ethnicity or any other aspect of identity”.
“The Government is concerned that, in the absence of clear expectations, agencies may use ethnic identity or other forms of personal identity as a proxy for need, and therefore a justification in itself for targeted services. The requirements in this circular aim to address this concern.”
It says the Cabinet expects that, when agencies may be considering proposals to target specific population groups, they should engage with their responsible ministers.
They would need to have a “strong analytical case for targeted investment”, including “why general services are not sufficient” to deal with any disparity between the target group and the general population. The agencies should also provide an assessment of any potential opportunity costs in terms of servicing the needs of all New Zealanders.
Agencies would also need to “regularly review services targeted to specific population groups to ensure they remain necessary to achieve their original objectives”.
“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.”
Act leader David Seymour is welcoming the move. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
In a statement on Friday, Act Party leader David Seymour said the notice “honours universal human rights” and reflected “the values that Act campaigned on”.
“Policies like ethnicity-based surgical waitlists and university admission schemes are corrosive to an inclusive multi-ethnic society,” he said. “They take the lens of ethnicity and look through it before any other.
“The circular is sophisticated. It draws on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which New Zealand is a signatory. The convention forbids racial discrimination unless it is necessary, and even then it must be temporary.”
He said the circular highlighted the Government’s concern about the public service “using race as a proxy for need”.
“It says that, in establishing racial discrimination is necessary, it must consider all other variables before automatically using ethnicity to target services.
“A colour-blind public service is far better placed to direct its resources toward eliminating hardship and overcoming hardships that face individual New Zealanders.”
The Government’s focus on need, rather than race, was evident this week when Health Minister Shane Reti intervened over OurHealth Hawke’s Bay, Health New Zealand’s regional arm, offering some free healthcare services to Māori and Pasifika. Act, which drew attention to the matter, said “targeting services based on race is lazy and divisive”.
Reti said on Monday that his Government Policy Statement on health put need as the highest priority for service delivery and officials hadn’t “read the room”.
At a press conference on Friday, Seymour stressed that he believed other factors needed to be considered rather than going straight to ethnicity.
For example, he was asked about his position on bowel screening being available for Māori earlier in life. He said it was important to assess whether there were any other factors influencing worse bowel cancer rates for Māori. If race was the only factor, then he believed such priority was warranted.
“Health is the primary area where this is true, education might be one too,” he said of where he’d seen the majority of services being delivered by race.
Earlier this year, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis said the delay in issuing the circular was because ministers were focused on other policy priorities and that she and Seymour were “broadly” on the same page.
Seymour said at the time that he had told National he would rather get the policy right than hit what he admitted was an arbitrarily decided deadline.
“I love working with Nicola Willis, I think she is one of the most professional and collegial people in the Government, but at the same time that doesn’t mean you nail everything on the first round.”
Ayesha Verrall, Labour’s public services spokeswoman, said what the Government was doing wasn’t about addressing need but doing “what’s politically palatable”.
“One size doesn’t fit all and services need to work for New Zealand’s diverse communities.”
The Greens’ public services spokesman, Francisco Hernandez, said “need and race are intertwined” and a “mature conversation” was needed about ensuring a public service that “caters for all our communities”.
“Failing to acknowledge the structural racism that plagues our communities will see it only get worse while needs remain unmet. Generations of state-sponsored racism does not just disappear, it lingers.”
The Public Service Association (PSA) was also critical.
“Having public service agencies adopt a specific focus on improving the lives of Māori has been common-sense policy, one that Labour and National-led governments have supported because it works,” said Janice Panoho, Te Kaihautū for the PSA.
“This is a Government talking up evidence-based policies but in practice is ignoring evidence that these policies actually work to improve lives. Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, was abolished despite opposition from public health experts who maintained it would improve the health of Māori.”
Public Service Minister Nicola Willis said the Government had scrapped the progressive procurement policy. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Government contracts
Willis also said on Friday that the Government wanted contracts “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. We continue to encourage and expect Māori businesses to bid for and win Government contracts.”
She said the Government believed more could be done to ensure a wider range of small and medium-sized businesses “have the opportunity to win Government contracts that generate value for our communities”.
“The Ministers for Māori Development, Economic Development and Regional Development will report back to Cabinet next year on potential next steps in support of this goal.”
Seymour said the “progressive procurement” policy had been a “travesty”, giving an “unfair advantage” to some businesses “just because the directors were able to identify the ‘right’ people in their family tree”.
“Government contracting decisions should be made on the basis of value for money, full stop.”
Last year, Labour’s then-Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson said businesses still needed to win contracts on merit but agencies were being asked to “consider benefits other than just price”. He said this had a “positive social impact” and boosted the Māori economy.
“This creates wider outcomes for Aotearoa such as Government engaging with more small to medium businesses, helping regional business growth and creating jobs and training opportunities.”
Treaty Principles Bill
NZ Herald political correspondent Audrey Young yesterday criticised Seymour’s actions concerning the Treaty Principles Bill and his view of Justice Ministry officials’ assessment of the bill. Young said: “I have never seen a Cabinet paper so critical of a ministerial proposal, nor a minister more dismissive of officials.”
Asked to respond at his Friday press conference, Seymour said Young was entitled to her view as an experienced journalist but he said Act disagreed with how the public service had been interpreting the Treaty’s principles and therefore didn’t value the ministry’s critique of the bill.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
