PNZLIFE NOV 2020

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NZ’s most diverse election?
OPINION
Paul Spoonley
Professor
Massey University
Massey University distinguished professor
and sociologist Paul Spoonley is one of this
country's leading researchers into social
change.
As the country comes to grips with an
election result that will see a radical reset
in the makeup of Parliament, he ponders a
more diverse group of MP's, representing a
more diverse nation.
Paul Spoonley's expertise
includes Asian migration to
New Zealand and Asian
immigrant experiences.
Photo: Katie Scotcher - RNZ
There are still votes to
be counted.
In fact, there are rather
a lot of votes still outstanding
so there might
still be some adjustments
to who is in or out. But
one thing is certain :
Parliament will be much
more representative than
it has been in terms of
gender, ethnicity and sexual
orientation.
However, New Zealand's
Parliament still
does not fully represent
the New Zealand population.
In terms of the current
ethnic distribution of the
population, the figures
are interesting.
Maori constitute 16.5%
of the total population but
look likely to make up
20% of MPs in the House
(it was 23% in 2017).
There have been a number
of high profile Maori
departures, most noticeably
with NZ First not
getting back and therefore
no more Winston
Peters, Shane Jones or
Ron Mark.
But the Maori Party
looks to be back and there
are a number of new
Maori members. Both
ACT and the Greens have
3 Maori each while
Labour has 15 and
National has just 2.
The next largest ethnic
block in New Zealand are
Asians at 15.1% of New
Zealand’s population.
Again, there have been
a number of departures of
Asian MPs, most noticeably
with retirements
(Huo, Yang) and some not
getting re-elected
(Kanwaljit Singh
Bakshi and Dr
Paramjeet Parmar).
Some are returning;
Melissa Lee
(Korean) for National
and Priyanca
Radhakrishnan
(Indian) for Labour. The
latter will be joined by
Ayesha Verrall (Maldives),
Naisi Chen
(Chinese), Vanushi Walters
(Sri Lankan) and
Gaurav Sharma (Indian).
This means that only
5% of MPs are Asian and
therefore almost 10%
below the proportion of
the population.
Of course, the designation
"Asian" is far too
broad and really quite
unhelpful in terms of the
mix of the various Asian
communities in 2020. In
this regard, Chinese constitute
4.9% of all New
Zealanders and Indians
(4.7%).
Both are under-represented
in the new
Parliament.
Report card : could do
better.
In relation to Pasifika,
the picture is much more
positive. The five existing
Pasifika MPs from
Labour (all of them
Ministers in the previous
government) will be
joined by 4 new Labour
colleagues and one new
Green Pasifika MP. There
are none in ACT or
National. These 9 MPs
represent 8.3% of MPs
compared to 8% of the
population and up from
6% in the previous
Parliament.
Then there is rather odd
and varied category that
is Middle East/Latin
America/Africa
(MELAA) group.
This group makes up
1.5% of the population
but 2.5% of Parliament
with one refugee (Golriz
Ghahraman, Greens)
being joined by another,
Ibrahim Omer (Labour,
Eritrea) while there is the
first Latin American MP,
Ricardo March, also for
the Greens.
On gender, the new
Parliament does well with
almost half of MPs being
women, and the LGBQTI
representation has made
world-wide news with the
claim that the New
Zealand Parliament has
now the largest Rainbow
group of MPs globally,
taking over from the UK
Parliament.
So in terms of representation,
the non-Pakeha
representatives are edging
towards parity with
Maori, Pasifika or
MELAA meeting or
exceeding their proportion
of the total population.
But some questions still
need to be asked about
Asian representation,
especially for the larger
groups (Indian, Chinese),
and of National, ACT and
the Greens.
Labour, with 7.8% of its
MPs from Asian backgrounds,
still needs to do
better. What is heartening
is that the 40 new MPs,
when considered as
cohort, are very diverse.
There are some other
Some Asian MPs are returning; Melissa Lee - Korean for National (pictured left) and
Priyanca Radhakrishnan - Indian for Labour (centre). The latter will be joined by
Ayesha Verrall - Maldives, (left), Naisi Chen - Chinese), Vanushi Walters - Sri Lankan
and Gaurav Sharma - Indian. Photo: Dom Thomas/Lynda Chanwai-Earle, RNZ
questions to be asked
about the election.
One is whether there is
an ethnic penalty in operation.
If minority ethnic
and immigrant candidates
are selected for electorate
seats, do members
of other ethnic groups (as
voters) not see them as
strong candidates? This of
course puts the pressure
back on political parties
to not only ensure that
there are a range of candidates
in terms of gender,
ethnicity and sexual orientation
but to pick them
for winnable seats and to
back them fully.
As New Zealand’s
diversity grows, then
these questions become
critical, especially as participation
and representation
in government
becomes a key indicator
of both inclusion and
acceptance.
There are also questions
to ask about how various
minority ethnic and
immigrant communities
took part in the voting
process.
Did they enroll and did
they exercise their right to
vote? And another question
- who did they vote
for ?
The period from 2013 to
2020 has seen the largest
net gains from migration
in New Zealand’s history,
providing more than
300,000 new residents and
citizens. I remain unconvinced
that we really
know about the voting
intentions of these new
New Zealanders (prior to
the election) or how they
actually cast their vote.
Trace Research released
a poll on the Chinese community
voter support
during the election campaign
period, but there
was little else.
And yet these immigrants
or minority ethnic
communities make up a
substantial proportion of
some electorates, and may
well have had a major say
in deciding both electorate
and party vote.
Another election is over
and we can now pick over
the bones and see what
has happened.
It was good to see that
there was little of the 2017
attacks on immigration
and immigrants (and certainly
a far cry from the
1996 election campaign).
It was encouraging to
see immigrant used as
statement of fact and not
as an insult, as Afua
Hirsch has lamented in
the British context.
And it's been good to
see more diversity in the
Retirements: Labour’s Huo, Yang - Chinese (left) and National’s Jian Yang - Chinese.
Elected: Labour’s Naisi Chen - Chinese (centre left) and Vanushi Walters - Sri Lankan (right), who will represent
Auckland's North Harbour electorate in Parliament. Not re-elected: National’s Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi - Indian,
Dr Paramjeet Parmar - Indian and List MP Paulo Garcia - Filipino (centre right).
result . But Asian representation
remains a challenge.
Paul Spoonley's new
book " The New New
Zealand: Facing Demographic
Disruption", looks
at the coming decades and
the changing demographic
picture in this country and
asks the question: Are we
ready?
- Asia Media Centre