March 24, 2013
Race commissioner lacks vision
A former Human Rights Commission staffer says Dame Susan Devoy should stand aside as race relations commissioner because she doesn’t have the skills to do the job.
Marama Davidson says Justice Minister Judith Collins clearly appointed the former squash champion to the role because she wanted to roll back progress towards racial and social equity.
She says it’s a job that requires understanding of race and human rights issues, as well as skills in mediation and conciliation that Dame Susan has shown she lacks.
"We heard on Duncan Garners interview last week that she really floundered to articulate any sort of vision of race relations or to understand anything about racial and structural discrimination. There's some big concerns that obviously a lot of people are up in arms about," she says.
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