May 10, 2022
ACT scratches white fear
Te Rarawa leader Haami Piripi says ACT leader David Seymour is making his party the champion of white privilege.
In a pre-Budget statement, Mr Seymour called for the public service headcount to be wound back to the 2017 level and for the scrapping of demographic ministries, including Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry for Māori Development, Te Arawhiti the Ministry for Māori-Crown Relations, the Provincial Growth Fund, Callaghan Innovation, the Cultural Sector Regeneration Fund, and R&D tax credits.
Mr Piripi says Mr Seymour is an alarmist who is targeting what he believes is a large redneck vote.
“It’s an old fashioned, worn out story about white privilege and old New Zealand is built on it and we are not going to tolerate that anymore. We’re too small a country to be divided into inequitable silos. That’s what he is attacking. He’s attacking the institutions that bring about equity for various groups who struggle to succeed in New Zealand society because we haven’t got a level playing field,” he says.
Mr Piripi says most New Zealanders are concerned about the good of the nation.