Press Release
Winston Peters

The New Zealand First Leader, Winston Peters, says racial quotas are not the answer for solving the problem of Maori and Pacific Island unemployment.

The Pacific Islands Minister said yesterday that racism among employers is the biggest cause of high unemployment among Maori and Pacific Islanders.

He called for public sector bosses to have their pay docked if they do not fill quotas for hiring ethnic minorities.

Mr Peters said that the problem of high unemployment in these ethnic groups was New Zealand’s low economic growth which failed to create new jobs. As well, Maori and Pacific Islanders were at a disadvantage in education and training.

“Blaming racism for unemployment is a naïve ploy by the Minister to attract attention to himself.

“You cannot create jobs for one ethnic group by denying them to another. All this does is set people against one another.

“The answer is to create more jobs through export growth and for the government to start doing something to look after the businesses which can provide jobs.

“As well, there must be a concerted drive to increase educational and training opportunities,” said Mr Peters.

ENDS

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