Next week’s election will be Louis Bretaña’s first time going to the polls as a New Zealand citizen.

The aspiring artist followed his partner here from the Philippines in 2011; one of a wave of recent Asian migrants that has become an immigration flashpoint in this year’s campaign.

“It’s so much easier to vote here,” he says, stirring a cup of coffee at a popular hipster cafe on Auckland’s Karangahape Rd. “It’s a lot less cumbersome compared to the Philippines.”

For Bretaña, being an Asian migrant is “very much the central point” in deciding who to vote for. Even though he’s now a citizen, he wonders whether he’ll ever be fully accepted. (more…)

Minister for Ethnic Communities Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga has announced the opening of the funding round for the new Ethnic Communities Development Fund (ECDF).

“The new contestable fund provides $520,000 annually to enable ethnic communities to be stronger, more cohesive and resilient. It is important that all ethnic people have a sense of belonging and participation in New Zealand,” Mr Lotu-Iiga says.

The priorities of the fund are to support leadership development, social cohesion and cultural events.

“The ECDF replaces the Settling In Fund and is designed to better support the ongoing needs of ethnic people,” Mr Lotu-Iiga says.

“The fund promotes diversity and inclusiveness through ethnic communities. It also supports two key government strategies – the New Zealand Migrant Settlement and Integration Strategy and the Refugee Resettlement Strategy.” (more…)

Mainstream New Zealand news media were heavily criticised for “misrepresentations, sensationalism and exclusions” at the first of three national summits in Auckland today aimed at creating stronger links between ethnic communities.

Both deputy mayor Penny Hulse and Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy were critical in the opening session about communities that were rendered “invisible” and challenged the media to give a more balanced reflection of the diversity in New Zealand.

Various speakers also described most mainstream media as being biased in its representations of Māori communities and failure to live up to the obligations of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi partnership.

Several speakers were critical of the “whiteness” of the country’s major newsrooms, saying they did not “represent the face of Auckland today”.

(more…)

EPIC NZ is returning 27 May 2016, with a key focus on Innovation, Diversity and Building Connections.

EPIC NZ (Ethnic People in Commerce New Zealand) is an annual conference facilitated by the Office of Ethnic Communities to bring together New Zealand’s business people, ranging from those at the outset of their business careers to experienced leaders.

The 2016 Conference provides a forum for attendees to:

•             build connections and network with other ethnic and local and international business communities (including Maori, Pacific and Ethnic businesses)

•             engage with ideas about emerging issues, trends and opportunities

•             hear from successful business people

•             discover opportunities for business expansion and collaboration

•             explore potential markets and trading opportunities.

We seek to ensure that the annual conference is made up of a diverse range of participants who can network and learn from one another. Every year our audience is made up of a range of business leaders and representatives, including small business owners, SME’s (Small Medium Enterprises), commercial enterprises, academic institutions and relevant government agencies.

EPIC NZ is not only an opportunity for ethnic business leaders to network with one another, but a platform to build connections between the ethnic business community and mainstream, Māori and Pacific businesses.

http://conference.epicnz.co.nz

The Office of Ethnic Communities is working with the New Zealand School Trustees Association and Multicultural New Zealand to support greater ethnic and cultural representation in school trustee elections in May-June this year.

The board of trustees has overall responsibility for the governance of a school. It sets the educational goals and strategic direction of the school, and then monitors performance against these. The board of trustees makes sure that students are achieving, that the school complies with the law, and that the school is a responsible employer. Crucially, the board should also represent the diversity of its school community. This is important because it encourages greater cultural responsiveness in schools, which in turn benefits the whole community.

We are encouraging people from ethnic communities to consider becoming a school trustee. Eligibility criteria apply but trustees don’t have to be parents, and don’t have to have children at the school they stand for. It is an incredibly valuable role and one that gives you a real opportunity to give back to your community, and shape young lives in a positive way. We encourage you to consider standing for election if you have skills to share and would like to be involved in schools putting students at the centre of every decision they make.

It is good to be back as Minister for Ethnic Communities and I am looking forward to the challenges and rewards this role brings.

For all of us in our diverse communities, it is also a time to reflect on the events of the year past and look forward to the opportunities 2016 brings.

Alongside the Office of Ethnic Communities, I will be planning ahead for the year, looking at how we can make New Zealand an even more diverse and tolerant society.

It is our priority to ensure that newly arrived migrants are made to feel welcome and are able to settle quickly into their new lives.

Our newer and less well-established ethnic communities will be a focus for me this year and I look forward to opening dialogue that creates positive and better outcomes.

The steady increase in calls to Language Line in the last year reflects our society’s increased diversity. It is also reflected in a recent announcement by our government that a number of schools have won funding to establish new Mandarin, Japanese or Korean programmes or to expand existing ones.

The government established the $10 million Asian Language Learning in Schools contestable fund last year to increase the provision of Asian languages in schools. The first funding round will give $3.3 million over the next three years to 22 programmes involving 129 schools.

There are now more than one million people in New Zealand who were born overseas.  Our government does not look at the surnames of its residents and make assumptions about who they are, what they do and where they come from.

I try to attend as many ethnically diverse events as my diary allows me. We learn so much more about our ethnic communities when we immerse ourselves in them.

My hope for New Zealand is that it is a place where people of all cultures and ethnicities can come together and live peacefully. There is room in our communities for more diversity and I truly believe it enriches all of us when we embrace it.

http://ethniccommunities.govt.nz/ministers-updates/2015-09-02/ministers-update-august-2015