Mr Brash lost the plot?
“Don Brash has simply ‘lost the plot’ in his latest outrageous attempts to gain votes by denigrating Maori and Pacific
Islands success at University” the President of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE Te Hau Takitini o
Aotearoa) Lloyd Woods said today in Wellington. “It is outrageous to suggest that Maori and Pacific Islands students are
being treated differently in the way their work is assessed. It is not only an insult to these students but also to
their tutors and lecturers who by default are being accused of bias in their assessment procedures.” Mr Woods said.
Universities and other tertiary institutions have very prescriptive procedures to ensure that academic standards are
uniform and discrimination is not possible. “ Even without these academic quality assurance procedures staff through
their own academic professionalism would not discriminate on any grounds” Mr Woods added.
Mr Woods concluded “It is disturbing to see the leader of the opposition stoop so low as to not only be making
potentially racially divisive if not racist statements as has been previously reported.
Page 1 of 2 Now Mr Brash has begun attack those who are amongst the many Maori and Pacific Islands success stories in
education. Such statements serve only to fuel negative commentary in the community, and do nothing to foster harmonious
relations or find positive solutions to the inequities that face Maori and Pacific Islands people.”