The ethnic affairs minister is “frankly furious” at suggestions the ministry she heads is not of much use, and that the country was better off without it.
“It makes me quite upset on behalf of the communities who have advocated for this for so long,” says Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who became the first minister to head Ministry for Ethnic Communities when it was constituted in 2021.
The new unit was formed after the Christchurch terrorist attack in 2019, and the government said it will have powers and duties much bigger in scope than its predecessor, the Office of Ethnic Communities.
But David Seymour, leader of the ACT Party that polls predict could form a coalition government with National after General Election 2023, has proposed shutting down the ministry, as also others that he describes as demographic ministries.
“Most of these ministries replicate work which should already be done in policy ministries or the Ministry of Culture and Heritage,” the ACT said in an earlier policy document.
But Radhakrishnan believes that “our communities know what we need”. “So, when ACT says what they've said, on the policy, it's incredibly patronising,” says New Zealand’s first minister of Indian origin.
Radhakrishnan made the comments during a visit to the office of The Indian Weekender on September 19. She points to the work done for ethnic communities in the social and healthcare sectors, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, “none of which would have happened if the ministry wasn’t there”.
Labour’s candidate from Maungakiekie in Auckland also acknowledges a growing sense of frustration among small businesses, many of which Kiwi-Indians own, because of a spike in crime over the last couple of years.
“People are angry, and understandably so…when you've been the victim of what is often a violent crime, you are angry, and you want somebody to be held to account, you want to see that something is happening…that things are changing.”
But she is quick to point out the idea that people aren't being held to account for their offending is false.
“This [crime] is not a new problem. We've seen spikes in crime over the years, you know, regardless of which government has been in power. We can stand on a soapbox and, you know, use rhetoric around being tough and harsh on crime. [But] We need to do what works.”
"People have a clear choice - do we want to sound tough and make people feel good about we're doing or do we actually do what works."
Radhakrishnan’s Labour Party has performed poorly in successive polls over the last few months, something she acknowledges just weeks ahead of the voting day, October 14.
“There's always sometimes a mood for change,” she says, with the caveat that voters “must think very carefully about the type of change they want”.
“There is rhetoric out there that some parties want to take New Zealand back on track, what does that actually mean?”
She wonders if people have felt that Labour hasn’t been quite as focused on what’s top of mind for them.
“Now, in the next three-and-a-half or so weeks, it is our job to get out there and to show New Zealanders that we are in touch with what is top of mind for them.”
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