MEDIA STATEMENT

The Hon Tariana Turia
Maori Party Co-Leader | MP for Te Tai Hauauru
Friday 9 November 2012

Turia stands by discrimination comments

Tariana Turia Co-leader of the Maori Party has responded to the comments made by Michael Barnett of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

Mrs Turia said “I have a high regard for Michael Barnett, and was quite surprised by what he said.”

“Only last month I saw a statement released by Mr Barnett in his role as Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust which urged businesses not to judge people on their ethnic origins.”

Mrs Turia said “this statement was based on research produced by Statistics New Zealand that showed one in ten New Zealanders aged over 15 years old had experienced discrimination in the last year either at work or while applying for a job. The overwhelming majority of respondents pointed to skin colour, race, or ethnicity as the primary reason for discrimination.”

“I disagree with Mr Barnett that my comments will put businesses off hiring rangatahi as it is clear for whatever reason they are not hiring our youth at all.”

ENDS

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