Race relations is
p. 54 · Read in the full issue
Opinion
Race relations is a pressing issue
IT is not unusual for a senior public official to complain that his or her department does not get enough money from the government. There is seldom enough in the national budget to satisfy every conscientious civil servant. But you have to ask questions when New Zealand’s Race Relations Conciliator asks for more funds for his office three times in a year and is turned down on every occasion.
For race relations is, most people agree, a pressing issue in a country where the ethnic mix is changing rapidly, the government is aggressively wooing immigrants and daily headlines show racial harmony remains a dream. Maori extremists have helped provoke a backlash against Treaty of Waitangi settlements, even among pakeha broadly sym pathetic to past injustices. Asians have tended to replace Pacific Island people as primary targets for anti-immigra tion campaigners, but both remain second class citizens in
many bigoted European eyes.
And as white supremacist groups like skinheads and the National Fascist Union stir the simmering pot of racial hatred, alarmists talk about a timebomb ticking away beneath the surface of New Zealand society. In his annual report to Parliament for last year, Race Relations Conciliator Rajen Prasad notes that Britain makes “signifi cant state resources” available for his counterpart, Canada has “an enormous investment” in multiculturalism and the United States has many programmes on relationships between its citizens of different cultural and ethnic back grounds.
But he adds: “While there is enough evidence to demon strate the seriousness with which the question of race rela tions is being addressed in many international contexts, in New Zealand the urgency of the issue is yet to be signifi cantly addressed through our public policy and budgetary processes.” In plain language, he says the need for a race relations strategy in New Zealand is urgent and the $1.5 million his office gets from the government each year is at least $500,000 below the minimum level needed “to address our vastly changing race relations landscape”.
Despite the urgency, he has had to put off formulating such a strategy for a year, close his office in Christchurch (which has earned the unenviable title of “skinhead capital of New Zealand”) and sideline the growing number of com plaints about racial discrimination. Although the number of
complaints and inquiries the Race Relations Offhce received in the 12 months to last June 30 was up 34per ce;nt on the previous year, fewer investigations were pursmed because of the restriction on funds.
Now only serious complaints are investigated as tlhe cash-strapped office switches its focus to education arnd promotion of long-term racial harmony.
Population projections showing a dramatic rise in tlhe proportions of Pacific Islanders, Asians and Maori over tlhe next quarter and half century indicate the need for an ediu cation strategy. Prasad notes that the percentage mf Europeans, which was 72 per cent at the last census iin 1996, will fall to 58 per cent by 2026. Thirty years latcer one-in-two New Zealanders will be non-Europeans.
Of interest to the Pacific Island community is thiat although it is growing fast, it will be outstripped in tlhe next eight years (that is, by 2006) by the Asian population.
By 2026, Asians will comprise 10 per cent of the popu lation compared with 9 per cent of ethnic Pacific Islanders.
In 2046, both communities will be just under 600,00)0 strong, each accounting for 12 per cent of the population, with close to one million Maori, or 20 per cent.
Prasad warns of an “enormous impact” on race relations with new New Zealanders being much more visible than when the country’s main immigrants were from traditional (white) sources in Europe and South Africa.
A hint of the potential problems ahead lies in complaint statistics set out in his annual report. They show that protests under the general heading of racial disharmony and racial harassment accounted for more than one-in-three of last year’s complaints. But the biggest rise was in charges of discrimination in jobs, up to 20 per cent of the total from 9 per cent the previous year.
While the vast majority of total complaints come from pakeha and Maori, of concern to PIM readers is a sharp jump in those laid by Pacific Island people, especially Samoans. The Pacific Island total number remains small - 32 out of the 400 investigated complaints where ethnicity was known - but it does point to an increasing level of dis crimination against the island community.
Prasad notes that the complaints and enquiries function of his office is an important barometer on race discrimina tion matters which concern New Zealanders. People don’t hesitate to lodge their concerns about race matters with the office and often expect it to take action to address what they see as a slight on someone’s culture or ethnicity, he says. Given the shortage of funds, he dubs it “unfortunate that some of their complaints will either not be addressed or will take longer to process”.
Turning around stereotypical images and the complex relief systems and attitudes that underlie racism will not be easy, as Prasad acknowledges. “Unfortunately brochures, stickers and information sheets are not going to make much impact on their own on changing the attitudes and beliefs that inform racist behaviour,” he says.
To that extent, money alone is not the issue. But a bit more would surely help defuse that ticking timebomb that hreatens peace and stability in an increasingly complex multiracial society. ■
David Barber