How well do political parties represent NZ's ethnically diverse communities?

The National Party came under fire this year for its lack of diversity after it reshuffled its caucus several times following two leadership changes.

But one of its candidates Christopher Luxon, who is the former Air New Zealand CEO now running in Botany, has taken a bolder stance on the issue in contrast to what his party's leaders have said this year.

So how important is diversity and representation in our political parties?

New Zealand's last census showed there are now over 160 ethnic groups with more than a third of its population born overseas.

But the country's political parties still have a long way to go when it comes to representing all of New Zealand’s communities.

Before parliament dissolved this year, of the 120 MPs in government 94 were Pakeha, 20 were Māori, 9 were Pacific, six were Asian and there was one MP from the Middle East.

After winning their leadership bids, both Judith Collins and Todd Muller defended the party’s lack of diversity on its front bench and argued that diversity was not just about race, age or gender but that the National Party was diverse in merit and thought.

Luxon is standing in the most diverse electorate in the country and he said while the party has a diverse range of experience and skill, diversity of representation matters a lot as well.

“New Zealand’s much richer because of that diversity. It’s about how do we actually get all of that potential that sits in those different communities around the table and captured,” he told First Up.

“The business case for diversity is very strong. If you have very diverse teams that can represent customers well, that can represent perspectives well, the research is really solid on that. Diverse leadership will lead to a company that has better business results by almost 30 percent. That was my journey at Air New Zealand."

More than 50 percent of the residents in Luxon’s Botany electorate were born overseas.

The area’s ethnic diversity is made up of a large Asian community followed by Pacific people as the second largest group, then Maori and the Middle Eastern, Latin American and African communities.

Electoral Commission data from the last three elections show the groups with the lowest levels of voter participation include Māori, Pasifika, Asian and young voters.

It's these diverse groups many parties are working hard to appeal to, despite having a disproportionate lack of representation.

At RNZ's recent Pasifika Issues Debate, Independent Candidate Luella Linaker standing in Manurewa said diversity in government was crucial because the system hasn’t worked for Maori or Pasifika.

Māori and Pasifika continue to experience higher rates of poverty, lower achievement in education and poorer health outcomes, when compared to Pakeha.

Those statistics haven't budged significantly, under National- or Labour-led governments. 

“We haven't had any Pacific leadership in the National political space from Manurewa. Pacific make up 36 percent of Manurewa, we’re the highest percentage of population and yet we have no Pacific person on our local board,” Linaker said.

“There needs to be a lot more representation. It’s not just about diversity of thought. Diversity of culture is a big thing. Because with that comes different thinking. We need that diversity if we're going to change the system to make it work for our people.”

In 2017, the Labour Party brought a record number of Pacific MPs into parliament and had its biggest ever Māori caucus.

The party’s numbers were helped by the Mangere electorate where 70 percent of voters gave their party vote to Labour - the party’s highest vote in any electorate.

Labour’s longtime candidate in Mangere, Aupito William Sio admitted that while there’ve been some improvements for Pacific people under Labour, there’s still more work to be done.

“The agitation for Pacific representation goes back to 1986 and we were quite proud of the fact that in 2017 we did get six Pacific MPs there. We’ve made a good start but I'm also aware that there's so much more that we've got to do,” said Sio.

After Bill English stood down as National's leader in 2018, its caucus elected its first Māori leader - Simon Bridges - with Paula Bennett, also Māori, as his deputy.

In 2019, Agnes Loheni was sworn into parliament - making her National's first Pacific woman MP.

Loheni's appointment was celebrated as a significant achievement for the Pacific community, even by Labour's Pacific MP's who crossed the floor in parliament after she finished her maiden speech to decorate her with traditional leis.

Loheni is quick to defend her party's record on diversity.

“There is diversity of merit and thought from where you come from and from the upbringing that you've had, from the ethnic story that you bring with you,” said Loheni.

“So there is diversity of thought and contribution there and we are actually one of the most diverse parties in this current parliament.”

But on current polling, National stands to lose most of its ethnically diverse lower-list candidates, including its only two Pacific MPs Loheni and Alfred Ngaro, who are both standing in traditionally red seats.

It may end up with a mainly Pakeha caucus, with the exception of Shane Reti and Simon Bridges. 

While Luxon calls the diversity in his Botany electorate the “new New Zealand”, he says he has to convince those diverse communities that his party is still relevant to them.

“We have to make sure we're building genuine bridges into all those communities. I can tell you, when the National Party is not a ‘national’ National Party, it's a big problem,” said Luxon.

At a recent Northland regional list ranking conference, Luxon - who is running in a safe National seat and is 61 on the party list - specifically requested members of his party to rank him last on the list. 

He instead endorsed several of the party’s other list candidates, like Loheni, to be ranked higher instead. 

“A lot of our diversity does sit in that list and we have some amazing people. You know, if I think about the Agnes Loheni’s - I was with Agnes and a bunch of Mangere Pacific leaders and she has an amazing story. You see it with Nancy Liu who's our new candidate representative in the Chinese community here as well. Incredible story,” Luxon said.

“These are awesome people who've got a great story, great lived experience that you want to see represented in parliament and so it's much more important that they get in because they need that higher list ranking than I certainly do sitting in you know what, if I'm doing my job right, I should get in on my own merit.”

Luxon is standing against Labour's Niasi Chen, the New Conservatives' Diuewe de Boer, Sustainable NZ's Peter Fleming and ACT's Damien Smith.