Ethnicity
New Zealand is a diverse and tolerant country. Our ethnic diversity is a source of strength, bringing new insights, skills, and opportunities to our society.
Ethnic communities in New Zealand also strengthen our connections with the international community, helping us to build stronger diplomatic and economic relationships with other nations.
To fully harness all of these benefits, we need to provide a supportive environment for New Zealand’s ethnic communities to settle and prosper. Every person should be able to reach their full potential in life, while retaining a connection to their heritage, culture, and language.
We recognise in particular that ethnic communities in New Zealand seek opportunities to live in safe communities, to succeed and contribute back to New Zealand, to be treated fairly and on their merits, and to build lives in a respectful and tolerant community.
We will:
Ethnic communities in New Zealand also strengthen our connections with the international community, helping us to build stronger diplomatic and economic relationships with other nations.
To fully harness all of these benefits, we need to provide a supportive environment for New Zealand’s ethnic communities to settle and prosper. Every person should be able to reach their full potential in life, while retaining a connection to their heritage, culture, and language.
We recognise in particular that ethnic communities in New Zealand seek opportunities to live in safe communities, to succeed and contribute back to New Zealand, to be treated fairly and on their merits, and to build lives in a respectful and tolerant community.
We will:
- Deliver a package of initiatives to create safer communities.
- Ensure that migrants can adequately speak the English language so there is no barrier in conforming to New Zealand’s lifestyle, especially if they choose to become New Zealand citizens.
- Run a voluntary trial civic engagement course for new and recent migrants to support engagement in community and public life.
- With the state sector, establish a two year trial programme to create more equitable opportunities for migrants to advance into senior positions including structured mentoring, pro-active promotion of opportunities to multicultural communities, and a ‘blind’ job application process for senior positions.
