A powerful civil society network of national ethnic and faith leaders met with the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Christopher Luxon at Parliament, to discuss issues of concern and suggestions on the way forward. Also attending was Hon Melissa Lee, Minister for Ethnic Communities.

The Prime Minister noted that with the increasing diversity of NZ’s population, such an united body of senior leadership of the growing ethnic and faith communities have a positive and strategic role in shaping our nation’s future. He welcomed the Network and their focus on promoting national unity and collective social cohesion.

A range of issues for all of our communities relating to health, immigration, national security, foreign interference, law and order, gun-control and hate crime were raised by the ethnic and faith leaders.

There will be a high-level follow-up with the heads of the various key ministries, led by the DPMC.

“There is a need for greater consultation at policy level and purposeful engagement by senior officials prior to any legislation “said Daljit Singh from the Combined Sikh Association of NZ.

Robert Hunt, Chair of the NZ Buddhist Council gave the example that the last time there was a review of the immigration policies on visits and residence for religious teachers, monks, imams, and priests was over 12 years ago. “These visa policy settings need urgent attention”, he said.

“All our communities are concerned about the growth of crime and we would welcome more attention to victims impact statement when it comes to sentencing”, said Paul Patel from the NZ

Indian Central Association. Manisha Morar , also from the Indian Association, stated that “hate crime against ethnic and faith communities have been growing and there needs to be some urgency in addressing this matter”.

Richard Leung, from the New Zealand Chinese Association highlighted that foreign interference is impacting our democracy and we should now consider registration of foreign agents , like all the other Five Eyes countries. He also shared feedback from local communities on the activities of NZ government agencies. At another level , Debbie Chin also from the NZ Chinese Association referring to some of the latest health data said, “Asian and ethnic communities are missing out as health equity for our communities does not seem to have a priority in the current health policies and programmes, including screening”. Gregory Fortuin of the African Leaders Group, requested the Prime Minister to maintain the current status quo with respect to the MSSA guns and the Gun Registry. “ In a country where there is no general arming of the police, none of our ethnic and faith communities want these military stylesemi-automatic weapons endangering our families.”, he said. Ibrar Sheikh and Rizwaan Khan from the Islamic Federation noted that the diverse ethnic communities have a positive role in the national development and economic growth of our country, however there is no representation at the Cabinet.

“ This was a very productive meeting given that the Prime Minister took detailed notes of some of the key collective concerns of our communities and we are confident that there will be follow-up with senior government officials on the issues raised by the national ethnic and faith leaders ”, said Abdur Razzaq, coordinator of the National Ethnic and Faith Community Leaders Network . “ We are particularly pleased that the Prime Minister requested a follow-up meeting on progress in about four months”.

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