Leaked Gaps Report Huge Embarrassment To Govt
A high level report prepared for the Ministry of Social Policy seriously challenges the Government’s entire closing the
gaps initiative, said ACT Welfare spokesman Dr Muriel Newman.
The key conclusion of the in-depth paper concludes that ‘For reasons of social justice and efficiency, effective policy
to close the gaps needs to focus on those most disadvantaged or at risk’.”
‘Broad based policies which target the Maori population, which may be thought to close the gaps (such as fisheries
settlements, other treaty settlements, cheap access to the radio spectrum etc), risk being captured by the considerable
number of Maori who already have jobs, skills, high incomes and good prospects’.
“This report seriously challenges the Government’s broad Maori based policies, concluding that policy should be based on
disadvantage, not race, and supports this with sound and detailed analysis.
This analysis includes the fact that:
* Socio-economic differences amongst Maori as a group overwhelm socio-economic differences between Maori and other
groups; * The distribution of income (hourly earnings) across the Maori population is very similar to the distribution
across the non-Maori population. * Key socio-economic gaps (employment, education, income) are not growing; * Over the
1990s, gaps in employment rates, median income, and education levels have closed.
“The Minister’s response to questions in the House on this matter, show he was completely unaware of how seriously the
Government report undermines the coalition’s flagship closing the gaps policy.
“The Government must either answer the report’s criticisms, or completely rethink their ethnicity based approach to
closing the gaps,” concluded Dr Muriel Newman.
Maori Socio-economic Disparity
Executive summary of Report prepared for the Ministry of Social Policy September 2000
Key findings of report
* The post 1970s Maori population is in absolute terms larger, per capita materially wealthier, and has a higher life
expectancy than at any other time in New Zealand’s history; * Socio-economic differences amongst Maori as a group
overwhelm socio-economic differences between Maori and other groups; * The distribution of income (hourly earnings)
across the Maori population is very similar to the distribution across the non-Maori population. * Key socio-economic
gaps (employment, education, income) are not growing; * Over the 1990s, gaps in employment rates, median income, and
education levels have closed, namely: * The employment rate disparity has fallen over the 1990s from a peak of around
14%, to around 6% today; * The ratio of Maori to non-Maori income has increased from 75.5% to 79.3% between 1991 and
1996 and further increases since then seem likely, given reductions in the employment rate disparity. * There was a slow
decline in the gap between Maori and non-Maori leaving school without qualifications, between 1985 and 1998. *
Significant socio-economic gaps remain between Maori and non-Maori in New Zealand in education, health, income and
labour market status; * There are a number of reasons why gaps may exist between Maori and non-Maori on average. *
Overall, much of the gap between Maori and non-Maori reflects their over-representation amongst poorer socio-economic
classes.
Implications for policy
* Broad based policies which target the Maori population, which may be thought to close the gaps (such as fisheries
settlements, other treaty settlements, cheap access to the radio spectrum etc.), risk being captured by the considerable
number of Maori who already have jobs, skills, high incomes and good prospects. * For reasons of social justice and
efficiency, effective policy to close the gaps needs to focus on those most disadvantaged or at risk. * Policymakers
need to avoid a fixation with “averages” for groups, which convey little information about the underlying spread or
distribution. * Four possible policy rationales are given, including Treaty of Waitangi rights, broad group social
equity issues, social conflict and cohesion issues, and encouragement of a vibrant Maori culture. * High variations
within the Maori population weaken the social cohesion argument for addressing disparities at an aggregate level. *
Being Maori has very low predictive power for socio-economic success or failure. * Regional variations exist- with Maori
performing worse in regions where there is a high Maori population share. * Effective policy needs to provide strong
incentives and good monitoring to ensure the desired outcome is met – helping low skilled Maori without work in areas of
high Maori population concentration to acquire good jobs and better skills.
ENDS
For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at
act@parliament.govt.nz.