PM joins NZ First’s war on woke

Winston Peters wants to scrub the 'woke DEI' from our public service. Christopher Luxon says he may have a point.

Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, March 12.

In today’s edition: Health NZ awarded $2m contract to advisor’s UK business partner; School catering company goes liquidation; Does Wellington waterfront need safety barriers? But first, the PM says he’s open to NZ First’s proposals to remove ‘woke’ hiring practices from the public sector – and he’s asked Judith Collins to look into them.

Peters has a point on diversity, equity and inclusion, says PM

Christopher Luxon has thrown his (cautious) backing behind New Zealand First’s bill to “remove woke ‘DEI’ regulations” from hiring practices in the public sector. "I'd just say, when we took the keys to the place, it was pretty woke, and it's entirely appropriate that we look at what else we can do to make sure the public service delivers,” Luxon told reporters on Tuesday. NZ First would need to get very lucky for their member’s bill to be drawn from the ballot, but Luxon says he’s asked Judith Collins, who’s been given responsibility for overhauling the Public Service Act, to look at whether any of the bill’s proposals could be incorporated into her refresh, RNZ’s Craig McCulloch reports.

Returning to a country ‘founded on meritocracy’

What are those NZ First proposals, exactly? The party’s Public Works Act (Repeal of Diversity and Inclusiveness Requirements) Bill would scrap the requirement that public service employers ensure their workforces reflect societal diversity, remove mandates promoting diversity and inclusiveness in public service workplaces, and end the public service's consideration of "workforce diversity and inclusiveness". The bill would also remove "requirements for chief executives and boards to promote diversity and inclusiveness as part of being a 'good employer,’ including specific references to Māori involvement”. Leader Winston Peters said the bill was needed because “New Zealand is a country founded on meritocracy, not on some mind-numbingly stupid ideology.”

As the NZ Herald notes in an editorial (Premium paywalled), five years ago NZ First voted in favour of the same law it is now keen to repeal, with then deputy leader Fletcher Tabuteau saying it would “deliver better outcomes and better services” by “creating a modern, agile and adaptive public service”.

Peters’ DEI claims ‘total bulldust’

Curiously, nobody seems to have come up with any real evidence of people wrongly appointed to the public service because of diversity rules. Asked for examples of wokeness in government, Luxon mentioned Labour’s wellbeing budgets, co-governance, and targets to reduce prisoner numbers – but not any hiring practices. Peters likewise struggles to give an example, but insists the act as it stands is forcing “diversity, equity and inclusion targets” on government agencies.

“To borrow one of Peters’ gentlemanly expletives, that claim is total ‘bulldust’,” writes Stuff’s Jehan Casinader. “The law says nothing about targets or quotas. It does require public sector bosses to promote diversity and inclusion by building a workforce that reflects our society.”

Casinader continues: “Peters wants hiring decisions to be made solely on ‘merit’. Who would disagree with that? But ‘merit’ no longer means what it might have when Peters joined the workforce in the 1960s as a young schoolteacher.”

‘Woke’ banks also in the firing line

The bill isn’t NZ First’s only legislative parry in the war against woke. Last month, MP Andy Foster’s “woke banking bill” was pulled from the biscuit tin, meaning it’ll proceed to a first reading. The bill aims to prevent the debanking of customers based on “murky ‘environmental, social or governance’ [ESG] moralising”. Debanking – the denial of banking services – has been a hot topic in rightwing circles in recent years. In 2023, UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage accused private bank Coutts of closing his account due to his political views, prompting a media firestorm. Here at home, to give two examples, KiwiBank has pledged to stop working with coal companies and BNZ closed Gloriavale’s accounts, citing human rights concerns.

Lawyers at both Chapman Tripp and Russell McVeagh say Foster’s bill is poorly written and unworkable in practice, due to its allowance for banks to still withdraw services “for a valid and verifiable commercial reason”. To take one example, the risks associated with climate change are arguably both an “ESG consideration” and a “verifiable commercial reason” for banks to refuse a loan, making them a grey area under the proposed law. Such a law change would also provoke uncertainty within the financial services sector, scaring away foreign investment, warns economics professor Martien Lubberink in an article entitled ‘How the war on ‘woke banking’ could backfire on New Zealand’.

Related:

• ‘Woke banks’ row: Bank reveals $132m exposure to risky petrol stations (Newsroom)

• A definitive list of woke and non-woke foods (The Spinoff)

Have thoughts? Join the conversation in the comments.

Health NZ awarded $2m contract to advisor’s UK business partner

Health NZ says it did not advertise a $2 million contract before awarding it to a UK-based company linked to embattled senior manager John Bennett because “it was the only known provider with the essential skills” needed, Stuff’s Paula Penfold reports. At the time the contract was awarded, Bennett had been advising Health NZ on “system performance, reporting and accountability”. He is now employed by ACC, but was last week stood down pending an investigation into a complaint about “physical contact with co-workers”. Bennett is the co-founder of MBI Healthcare Technologies, the company contracted by Health NZ, but resigned as a director in 2020. He remains a director in two other companies with a fellow MBI co-founder.

Watch Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, chapter five: ‘Vegan curry pie’

In Kura’s hometown of Pōneke, the pair catch up with her family to dissect her relationship history and get some crucial pointers from her nieces and nephew about how to attract a man. Emboldened by the advice, Bryn and Ku then bring down their walls, wear their hearts on their sleeves, and bravely head out on first dates in the capital city.

Does Wellington waterfront need safety barriers?

Wellington is grappling with how to balance cost, aesthetics and safety on the waterfront following a coroner’s report that urged the council to install permanent waterfront balustrades, reports RNZ’s Lauren Crimp. Installing barriers along the length of the waterfront could cost more than $11 million, but Water Safety NZ’s Gavin Walker says they’re only really needed in “key high traffic areas, and in and around bars”. After Auckland introduced similar measures at Princes Wharf and the viaduct, the number of drownings fell from 10 between 2000 and 2010, to only four in the 14 years since.

Join us at The Spinoff Book Club

The best way to enjoy a book is by yourself, the second best way is with a theatre full of people. Books editor Claire Mabey will lead a conversation with avid writers and readers Duncan Sarkies, Carl Shuker, Courtney Johnston and more. Join us to hear about their favourites, their recommendations, and what to look out for in the year to come.

Click and Collect

• Catering company Libelle Group has gone into liquidation with just over 500 staff affected. Libelle provides school lunches as a subcontractor to the School Lunch Collective, along with other catering services. (NZ Herald)

• Donald Trump says he will double his planned tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium, despite ongoing stock market turmoil and rising US recession risks. (Stuff)

• Three out of four Restore Passenger Rail protestors will face retrial after a jury failed to reach verdicts. The fourth was found not guilty this week of endangering transport during protests in Wellington in 2022. (The Post)

• The Commerce Commission is taking meal-kit provider HelloFresh to court for allegedly misleading NZ consumers over subscriptions. (1News)

• Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is on his way to The Hague after being arrested for crimes against humanity connected to killings resulting from his “war on drugs”. (The Guardian)

• Why Christopher Luxon called Wellington council “lame-o”. (RNZ)

Right now on The Spinoff

Gabi Lardies meets New Zealand's anti-Musk Tesla drivers. Joel MacManus argues that Wellington Water is begging to be put out of its misery. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith investigates how a government minister stepped in to give Candace Owens a New Zealand visa. Tara Ward wonders whether the attempt to save Shortland Street has cost the soap its heart. For The Fold, Duncan Greive discusses big tech and regulation in the second coming of Trump. Frances Cook talks to an investor helping Muslims navigate the money world. For The Cost of Being, a 25-year-old bar manager in debt to the dentist breaks down their expenses.

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