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“Race Relations: Where To Now?”

New Zealand Asian Leaders Inaugural Conference

“Race Relations: Where To Now?”


Race Relations Commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy

The Cube Auditorium, ASB North Wharf, Wynyard Quarter

Friday 3rd October 2014

In 1993 former Prime Minister Jim Bolger was ridiculed for suggesting New Zealand was an Asia Pacific nation.

21 years later and New Zealand is looking and behaving more like an Asia Pacific nation than a mono-cultural one.

One of our top female athletes is a young Korean Kiwi called Lydia Ko. Arguably our best rugby player is a Samoan Kiwi who’s also Muslim.

Our parliament looks more like the people it represents than ever before: three political party leaders are Maori New Zealanders.

When we switch on our TVs we listen to journalists called Ali Ikram, Chris Cheng, Ruwani Perera. We hear from economists like Ganesh Nana and Shamubeel Eaqub. There is an entire television channel broadcast in te reo Maori.

Anyone who remembers our Rugby World Cup 20111 Opening Ceremony would be hard pressed to think we’re mono-cultural. London’s Telegraph newspaper said at its heart was a defining cultural pivot around which the entire event could spin. What was clear to the world is that there is no nation on earth quite like Aotearoa: what’s great is that finally we too are embracing our uniqueness.

**

Young Maori and Pacific Kiwis are a growing demographic, speaking their own languages and studying in tertiary institutions more than ever before.

Today one in ten Kiwis are also Asian Kiwis. Here in Auckland one in four of us are Asian.

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While recent growth is rapid, Asian people aren’t just recent arrivals. The first Chinese arrived before the Treaty was signed, the first Muslim and Indian Kiwis were working and living here 140-years ago. In rural and provincial centres from Auckland to Gisborne, Hamilton to Levin, Carterton to Dunedin – you will find the footsteps, families and businesses of generations of Asian New Zealanders.

Generations of Asian New Zealanders helped build New Zealand.

And it’s Asian New Zealanders and people who are literally helping to rebuild Christchurch.

Migrant workers, many coming from across Asia form the backbone of the Christchurch rebuild.

Asian companies are working alongside locals and investing millions in the Christchurch rebuild.

**

As a small, geographically isolated economy - New Zealand needs to be savvy, strategic and sensible if we’re going to punch above our weight in the global economy.

And yet there’s a few things we need to get clear if we want to succeed.

As you all know, the Global Economy doesn’t just speak English.

The Global Economy doesn’t just employ one race of people.

And crucially, the Global Economy’s centre of gravity is now, unquestionably, Asian.

Global entrepreneur and philanthropist Li Ka Shing’s Confucian philosophy says a company’s and a country’s most valuable assets of all cannot be found on a balance sheet.

The most valuable assets of all are intangible and eternal.

Li Ka Shing says Success With Integrity.

Here in New Zealand we can say Success With Mana.

This is the kind of wisdom that will help future proof our economy and our country for future generations of New Zealanders.

I’ve met recently with successful business leaders from across the region and they say evidence shows a diverse workforce significantly enhances business performance.

Instead of a single, standardised perspective, diversity gives you a different perspective – diversity can give you that edge that no one else has.

If we are to be taken seriously in Asia we need to look to Asia not just as a potential market to make a profit out of – we need to understand and form relationships with Asian peoples here and overseas.

Chinese Kiwi, Sean Kam grew up in Takapuna, where he played rugby for Westlake Boys he was known as the Orient Express.

Sean’s also a bit of a financial whizkid, and CFO of one of New Zealand’s top 50 listed companies. He says Kiwi companies are missing out on the diversity stakes at both board and senior management level. He knows firsthand that Asian Kiwis can and do bridge the cultural gap companies face when doing business because Asian Kiwis like him understand both sets of cultures.

Diversifying the boardrooms of New Zealand companies – not just their workforce – is a challenge our businesses need to meet.

Diversity and business can take on many forms. Last year at the Taniwha and Dragaon festival, Maori and Chinese leaders celebrated and forged cultural, ancestral, historical and economic bonds.

If New Zealand is going to become a true innovation nation, we need to celebrate and plan for the reality that we are fast becoming one of the most ethnically diverse nations on earth.

One in ten Kiwis are Asian Kiwis.

One in four Aucklanders are Asian Aucklanders.

This is the Changing Face of New Zealand.

But does the Changing Face of New Zealand have a voice?

Or is the Changing Face of New Zealand a silent face?

Only five MPs in the New Zealand parliament are Asian Kiwis.

The State Services Commission lists one Asian CEO – in an acting role.

Getting more Asian Kiwis into positions of power – corporate, social and political positions of power and leadership – isn’t just about getting excellent grades or being excellent at what you do. Kiwis from Asian backgrounds remain under represented in senior management – public and private sector - despite outstanding qualifications.

If we want the people in this room on the boards of our private sector companies, heading our government departments or sitting in Cabinet alongside John Key or David Cunliffe: then things need to change.

We all have our roles to play in this change.

48 hours after this year’s election, our Prime Minister said he wanted to lead a Government that will govern for all New Zealanders.

He wants a New Zealand that’s a more confident, more outward looking, multicultural New Zealand.

The reality is that the challenge for our nation to be more confident, outward looking and multicultural is a challenge for all of us to take on.

From the State Services Commission when they’re selecting the next public sector CEO to the partners of our biggest law firm when they’re selecting a new partner. From Political parties deciding on their election candidates to the board of our biggest listed companies when they advertise a board vacancy.

The face if New Zealand is changing every day. Whether or not the Changing Face of New Zealand is reflected everywhere is a challenge for all New Zealanders to take up.

ENDS


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