ACT Party is calling out racial segregation after photos of signboards at Auckland University reserving public areas for Maori and Pasifika students were shared online.
In a statement to media on March 26, 2024, the party’s ethnic affairs spokesperson pointed to photos it said were posted online last night.
“Photos posted online last night show official-looking signs at the entrance to what appears to be an Auckland University study room saying ‘This is a Designated Area for Māori and Pasifika Students. Thank You’.
“ACT has seen similar accounts from other universities. If true, this is nothing short of segregation,” the statement read.
“Blocking access to spaces based on ethnicity has an ugly past and has no future in New Zealand. Universities owe the Kiwis who pay their bills an explanation.”
The party called on universities to be open about whether they are engaging in these practices or not.
“Kiwis pay to keep their doors open with taxes, and deserve an explanation. It is disappointing that it even needs to be said, but ACT’s position is that blocking people from spaces based on their ethnicity is unequivocally wrong,” the statement read.
ACT leader David Seymour has in the past pointed to government policies that he believed were based on race, most recently when he called out race-based prioritisaion in healthcare last year.
“There is no justification for the public healthcare system to assign care based on ethnicity. It is lazy, divisive and doesn’t address the core problems at the heart of the health system. ACT will stop dividing healthcare by race,” Seymour had said
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