Racial quota for govt tenders now
Northern Region DHB wrote:
In December 2020, Cabinet approved the progressive procurement policy aimed at increasing the diversity of Government suppliers. As part of this policy, all government agencies that are mandated to apply Government Procurement Rules are required to award at least 5% of their yearly procurement contracts to Māori businesses.
Te Puni Kōkiri and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment are implementing the progressive procurement policy to support Māori enterprise. For this policy, a Māori business is defined as
having at least 50% Māori ownership; or
a Māori Authority as defined by the Inland Revenue Department.
So if one of the owners of the business has a great great great grandparent who was Maori they get preferential treatment over other suppliers, even if more expensive or lesser quality. And this is mandatory.
It’s nothing to do with if the business employs Maori staff, or helps underprivileged communities. It is purely to do with the racial background of the owner.
Two former Chairman of the Business Roundtable are Maori – Sir Ralph Norris and Sir Rob McLeod. So if they own 50% of a company, that company gets preferential treatment over a company owned by say a small business owner from Napier.
The intention may be good, but race based quotas in procurement are an awful idea.