New Zealand Multiculturalism and the Law, By Bruce Bennett
New Zealand looked like going down the Australian road with multiculturalism and the law, with guidelines that would have acted to keep the numbers of Māori' down from the jails. It seems the intent was to do this, but public outcry led to the Solicitor-General backing right down and saying, no, this was a misinterpretation of the guidelines, which will be revised, then released. I suppose that the new release will be at some convenient time when public scrutiny will not be so intense.
Still, it is heart warming to see that there can still be a public backlash in a country which is generally extremely woke, almost as bad as Australia!
"The Solicitor-General has backed down over controversial guidelines that asked prosecutors to "think carefully about particular decisions… where a person is Māori".
Una Jagose, KC, has admitted in a statement on Friday that her wording "missed the mark". She said that realisation came after reading and listening to public commentary.
"I can be clearer, and it's important to get this right to avoid public uncertainty or misunderstanding," Jagose said.
"I have therefore taken down the guidelines, while I review the introduction and the rest of the guidance for clarity and consistency. My intention is that this process will be completed promptly, and I will republish the guidelines in time for them to come into effect as scheduled from January 1, 2025."
The introduction to the guidelines from the Solicitor-General asked prosecutors to "think carefully about particular decisions where a person (whether the victim or the defendant) is Māori, or a member of any other group that is disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system".
"This does not promote different treatment based on ethnicity or membership of a particular group; it instead alerts prosecutors to situations and factors that may deliver inequitable outcomes for some people in those groups."
Attorney-General Judith Collins, who is currently overseas, has refused to endorse the guidelines.
"The law needs to be blind as to people's ethnicity or who they are," she told NewstalkZB on Friday morning.
"I do not agree people should be treated differently based on their ethnicity."
She said these were independent guidelines but also made a point of noting she didn't write a foreword for the guidelines, as former Attorneys-General have done before.
Collins said she believed the wording of the guidelines had led people to believe "Māori will be treated differently when it comes to prosecution decisions".
"My view is all prosecution decisions should be carefully thought about because it is not just about whether or not someone can be prosecuted, it is should they be prosecuted in those circumstances and we know that is something that is standard. But based on ethnicity? No."
Among critics of the guidelines was Act leader and Government minister David Seymour, who said he raised his concerns with the Attorney-General. He believed the guidelines were inconsistent with "the values of a civilised country where everyone is equal before the law".
Speaking to the Herald on Friday, Seymour said he was "grateful" Jagose had withdrawn the guidelines and believed the backdown showed New Zealand was getting "the real change it voted for".
"Once upon a time, these kinds of divisive edicts just reigned down unchallenged and relentlessly. Now you see that the underpinning values of New Zealand, that if being Kiwi means anything, it's that no matter who you are or how you're born, you have equal rights and a fair shot at life, those values are back in the ascendancy."
He said the current composition of the Government, including having ACT in it, means these policies "do not go unchallenged". However, he said there was still a way to go before "we can truly say our country celebrates equal rights again".
Seymour believed the guidelines had been inconsistent with the Government's "commitment to need, not race".
The Government last month also released a Cabinet Circular saying public services should be delivered on the basis of need, not race. Doing so was a coalition commitment between National and Act, and National and New Zealand First.
Winston Peters, who was acting Prime Minister on Thursday, said he would leave the matter to Collins and he believed he would agree with her.
"We write the law, the court's job is to preside over cases enforcing the law," he said.
The guidelines' introduction said the goal remained for New Zealand to benefit "from prosecution processes which are underscored by the core values of transparency, equality and fair application of the law to all participants, and reflect the legitimate public interest in prosecuting criminal offending".
It said the review of the guidelines included attempting to understand how prosecutorial decision-making "may contribute to the disproportionate criminal justice outcomes for Māori".
"It is well documented that the criminal justice system delivers disproportionately adverse results for Māori, who are over-represented as both victims and defendants."
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