Sunday, February 08, 2004
Thanks for playing, what's your point?
Taken from Stuff today, "National leader Don Brash has pledged to end race-based funding. Ruth Laugesen and Anthony Hubbard discover the truth about whether Maori really get a bigger share of government money."
They start, quite rightly, by asserting that measuring the exact extent to which specific Government funding is dedicated to Maori is nigh on impossible - the data just ain't kept. Ruth and Anthony promptly say themselves, to hell with that disclaimer, we'll pluck out a couple of numbers that suit us anyway. Their finding is that Maori are not really getting that much of your cash whitey (non-Maori darkie and yellowy et al), so just relax.
The question is short and simple, are Maori, regardless of need, entitled to things that other New Zealander's are not? That is what Don Brash thinks is wrong, spurious examples and a couple of dodgy stats can't rebut an argument based on principle.
