Measuring performance and effectiveness for Mäori ... - Te Puni Kokiri

PART 3 : COMPARATIVE MEASURES –
GOOD PRACTICE FOR MÄORI
3.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
FOR MÄORI
Mäori academics Durie and Kingi (2010)
emphasise that comparative measures
for Mäori are important for measuring
effectiveness and impacts for Mäori. Universal
indicators (e.g. the total employment rate)
without comparative measures are insufficient
measures of need and outcome (Durie, 2005b).
The purposes of comparative measurement can
include ensuring:
• the effectiveness and efficiency of
government services in achieving the aims of
those services, such as meeting Ministerial
priorities (The Treasury, 2012a, p.8); and
• equitable outcomes between different
population groups (OECD, 2009; Human
Rights Commission, 2010; 2011a, p.12).
3.2 ACHIEVING MEANINGFUL
COMPARISONS BETWEEN
ETHNIC GROUPS
Mäori vs. non-Mäori comparisons
Mäori compared to non-Mäori is the most
commonly used comparative measure. The
Department of Corrections, for example, gives
such a measure in its annual report in relation
to the successful completion of communitybased
sentences and orders.
However, Mäori academic authors have
criticised this approach because:
• Durie suggests: “Sometimes more relevant
benchmarks may be found with other iwi,
or in other indigenous communities. It is
misleading to use crude comparisons with
non-Mäori as a type of shorthand for best
outcomes, or to assume that Mäori/non-
Mäori comparisons always provide useful
information about Mäori progress” (Durie,
2003a, p.202);
• ‘non-Mäori’ is not an ethnic group, but
a collection of specific ethnic groups
experiencing disparate outcomes; and
• it may mask differing results achieved for
different ethnic groups such as between
Europeans and Pacific peoples, the latter
of whom are much closer to Mäori in socioeconomic
status than other groups included
in the non-Mäori category (Statistics New
Zealand, 2001a, p.90, 2001b, pp.63-71;
Humpage, 2002, pp.178-9).
Full analysis by ethnicity as
better practice
Comparing Mäori against other specific ethnic
groups is more consistent with ensuring equity
between those groups. Such an approach
is endorsed by the OECD (2009) and UN
Committee for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (Human Rights Commission,
2010, p.3-4; 2011a, p.12). “Another function of
the outcome indicators may be as a check on
the crucial social issue of equity. Are individual
clients in similar situations being treated
equally .... Such measures might reasonably
cover the distribution of key services by socioeconomic
groups” (OECD, 2009, p.83).
Equity and discrimination
The concern about equity is all the more
important in view of the need to counter
discrimination, which does occur in New
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C O M P A R A T I V E M E A S U R E S – G O O D P R A C T I C E F O R M Ä O R I