By MARCUS STICKLEY
A Tauranga music competition wants to find New Zealand's most talented young artists - but only if they were born in New Zealand.
Trustees of the Tauranga Performing Arts Trust say the Tauranga Concerto Competition is open only to performers born in this country.
Their decision has upset foreign-born contenders
and been criticised as a breach of the Human Rights Act.
"I have been here since I was 1 year old and consider myself a Kiwi," said violinist Malavika Gopal, who cannot take part because she was born in India.
"Everything I am is from New Zealand."
Gopal, aged 20, said she had been delighted to learn about the new competition, which offers a $10,000 prize and a highly sought-after chance to play solo alongside the Opus Chamber Orchestra, a Waikato professional group.
The third-year Auckland University music student won this year's Rotorua National Concerto Competition, the Auckland Chamber Music Competition, and was a Young Musician of the Year finalist.
After learning she was not eligible, Gopal said she felt victimised for the first time since becoming a New Zealand citizen in her early teens.
Human Rights Commission chief mediator Mervin Singham said the competition appeared to be discriminatory on the grounds of national origin. If any potential entrants complained, the commission would look into the issue.
Council of Civil Liberties chairman Michael Bott said the discrimination was "disgraceful".
"Is the trust saying that New Zealand-born musicians should be packaged in cotton wool and can't take competition from people born elsewhere? Any professional musician would be dismayed their colleagues are being excluded in a way which breaches the Human Rights Act."
Tauranga trust member Bill Taylor said the criteria were decided by the trustees - himself and musician Bob Hudson.
"There's a lot of Kiwi kids ... who have got lost in the scrum, so we are trying to do something for them."
Mr Taylor said foreign-born New Zealanders could enter if they wished, but they would not win.
