Sunday, March 07, 2004
I think Steve may have a meeting with Trevor come Monday
An article in the SST shows that it is quite clear that targeted assistance exists, and some policies pro-actively disadvantage pakeha. Work and Income tell their employees, if you have to fill a job find a Maori, failing that find a Pacific Islander, if all else fails place the white guy.
I would love to hear the reaction from a desperate to work, on the bones of their arse, stuggling pakeha, that has gone to Work and Income and failed to find employment and wondered why they have had no luck. If this sort of thing doesn't spark resentment then what does? Not that this could phase our favourite social engineer Steve Maharey;
Work and Income staff are being paid bonuses based on the race of the jobseekers they place into work.
The scheme varies around the country, but in Counties-Manukau, staff are awarded three bonus points for placing a Maori in a job, two points for a Pacific Islander and one for a Pakeha. The points help determine the size of their annual bonus.
The revelation comes amid growing controversy over the use of race-based policies to address social disadvantage.
Employment Minister Steve Maharey defended the points-for-race scheme citing the huge drop in Maori unemployment.
"We know if we don't do more we are going to have a register filled with Maori people."
Maharey said the scheme allowed frontline staff to understand the areas government wanted to target. He did not want it applied to specific cases - for example, if a Pakeha and Maori jobseeker with the same skills and abilities were after the same job.
The argument that this approach should not be applied to specific cases just doesn't stand up. If Work and Income tell someone they will get paid more for taking option one - you can only expect them to take that option - and fair enough. And then it becomes subconscious, learned behaviour I believe it is called.
The question that needs answering is why would have stacks of unemployed Maori if we didn't take this (overtly racist) affirmative action step?
We need to openly and dispassionately try to ascertain why Maori would be unemployed in big numbers. Some would say 100 years of marginalisation (Pita Sharples springs to mind), others would blame straight out laziness (but few would put their name to it) - I would sit somewhere to the right of centre. Either way - let's have the discussion.
