ACT promise to implement an apartheid public service
ACT pledges to end ‘race-based hiring’ in public service ‘reset’
The ACT Party says it will campaign on reforming public service legislation to end what it calls “race-based hiring” and “reset” government agencies around principles of merit and equal treatment.
The proposals, released on Sunday, target ethnicity-based provisions in the Public Service Act and equivalent measures in the Crown Entities Act. Party leader David Seymour said public service jobs should go to the best candidate “based on merit, skills, and experience”.
- Abolish some employment rules: Repeal section 73 of the Public Service Act and its equivalent in the Crown Entities Act. Section 73, which outlines the principles of “a good employer”, requires department heads to consider, among other things, “the need for greater involvement of Māori in the public service”.
- Legally enforce service delivery by need: Amend the Public Service Act to turn an existing “need, not race” directive from the Government into a statutory duty, allowing decisions that breach the principle to be challenged through judicial review.
- Separate spiritual practices from public work: Prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing workplace cultural or spiritual practices, such as employer-led prayers or karakia, while continuing to allow personal religious practice in employees’ own time.
- Remove non-essential cultural criteria from jobs: Direct public service agencies via letter of expectations to remove cultural or spiritual requirements from position descriptions and job advertisements unless directly relevant to the role.
- Overhaul the Public Service Act: Pursue a wider rewrite of the Public Service Act to return the state sector to political neutrality, equal treatment, and accountability for results.
Stuff
Seymour was on Breakfast this morning getting a cuddle instead of a grilling on this racist bullshit.
He is claiming that Public Service Staff are being asked BEFORE THEY GET A JOB that they need to explain how they are celebrating Māori culture at home, and that simply isn’t true!
“I heard one of our MPs spoke to a woman who, she said, though she went for a job in the public service, she was asked, ‘How do you practice te ao Māori at home?’”
He’s basing an entire policy on nothing more than hear say.
I checked the Public Service Commission’s actual 2025 Te Taunaki Public Service Census documentation, rather than relying on ACT’s characterisation.
The census contains an entire section headed “Māori Crown Capability”. The Commission says it asks public servants about things including:
- whether they are supported to engage with Māori
- whether they understand Treaty responsibilities
- whether agency leaders are committed to the Māori–Crown relationship
- ability to identify aspects of government work that may disadvantage Māori
- comfort supporting tikanga Māori
- te reo Māori capability
- whether their agency encourages use of te reo and supports staff to develop it.
The way Seymour is selling this is that public servants are being forced to celebrate the Māori culture at home, when that simply isn’t true!
ACT are playing to their reactionary racist base, as the PSA points out…
The PSA union, which represents public service workers, opposed ACT’s proposal and said the public service “should look like New Zealand”.
“That’s not social engineering, that’s just good sense if you want an organisation that understands and can respond to the people it’s there to serve,” PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
Fitzsimons added, “Removing the ability for public servants to observe cultural and spiritual practices, on top of pushing ‘need not race’ into law, is part of the continued attack on Māori in the public service and the policies to improve outcomes for Māori.
“We all know what this is all about. It’s part of a wider ACT agenda to run down public services, so they can be wound back and readied for privatisation. Weaken the workforce, weaken the service, then say it isn’t working.”
…ACT promise to implement an apartheid public service. They are bad faith actors who race bait to create racism and intolerance.
NZ First are the frightened poor. ACT are the angry rich.
Both are beneath the mana and history of this country.
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Not Apartheid, Merit based…this is how it is meant to been according to the various Public Service Acts.
More bull shit from the fucken twerp .My daughter works in a public service and has never been asked what she does on her own time in here own place outside of work .Just a sad racist Atlas network prick .
This is all Star of David Seymour has. They can’t talk about the economy ( I mean an honest conversation not the bull shit ZB “if it wasn’t for gas prices”) so they create more rubbish. Like Paul Henry’s vibe tripe.
Act are getting more desperate by the day the polls show their support is dropping as NZF are also playing the race card and bash the maaaaaris. So, all Seemores bullshit this morning on breakfast was aimed at all those red neckers who usually vote for ACT and NZF who are both fighting for the same pool of voters.
I honestly don’t know where David Seymore is coming from, both he and Winston Peters who claim to have Maaori Ancestry are so Anti-Maaori it is not funny. It is if they are ashamed of their Whakapapa ???
Not sure if they are ashamed of their whakapapa more likely they want power and to rule and both have been brought. I would call them modern day kupapa.