Opposition leader Chris Hipkins and senior Labour lawmakers met ethnic community leaders in Wellington last week. Photo: Supplied
Ethnic leaders have repeated calls for greater participation in shaping government policy in a meeting with opposition chief Chris Hipkins and senior members of the Labour Party on 10 October.
The discussion followed a meeting with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon last month.
Participants at the latest meeting highlighted immigration, health inequalities and crime as key areas of concern.
"We had a good opportunity to discuss some of the priority immigration issues impacting our collective ethnic and faith communities," said Daljit Singh, representing the Sikh associations in New Zealand.
Manisha Morar said hate crimes against ethnic and faith communities had increased.
"The changes recommended by Royal Commission on 15 March have yet to be completed and this is important for all our communities," Morar said.
"There are significant lessons learned which have not yet been implemented, especially in the area of hate speech and hate crime."
New Zealand Police data shows that almost three-quarters of all hate crime offences reported since 2020 were motivated by race or ethnicity.
Between 1 January 2020 and 30 June, 19,589 hate-motivated offences were reported to police, with 14,285 - or 73 percent - being motivated by the victim's race or ethnicity.
Additionally, 1563 offences were based on the victim's sexual orientation, while 1069 were related to religion or faith.
In the first half of 2024, 2361 offences motivated by race or ethnicity were reported.
Paul Patel of the Indian Central Association and Anwar Ghani from the Federation of Islamic Associations voiced concern over rising crime, emphasising the need for community-led crime prevention efforts.
Richard Leung and Debbie Chen from the New Zealand Chinese Association addressed health disparities affecting ethnic communities, arguing that community-led solutions were crucial to address these challenges.
Gregery Fortuin of the African Leaders Group highlighted the importance of ensuring that community voices are heard and reflected in policy decisions.
"We also need to have effective and on-going engagement to uplift our communities," Fortuin said.
Robert Hunt, chair of the New Zealand Buddhist Council, called for the country's education system to better reflect its diversity.
"It was excellent to meet with representatives from our many ethnic and faith communities to discuss their priorities and issues that we can work through alongside each other," Chris Hipkins said on social media after the meeting.
"It's important that the voices of ethnic communities are heard and embedded into the decisions we make to take our country forward, as we prepare to be the next government."
Labour lawmakers Dr. Ayesha Verrall, Ginny Anderson, Willow-Jean Prime, Greg O'Connor, Jenny Salesa and Ingrid Leary also participated in the discussion.