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Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy fears the race card and "dog whistle politics" will taint New Zealand’s upcoming general election.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times before a fundraising event at Queenstown’s Hilton Hotel yesterday, Dame Susan said immigration was likely to be a major issue in September’s election, and called for "reasoned and rational discussions with facts and not hyperbole".
There was a lesson for New Zealand in the political polarisation seen in the United Kingdom and United States in the past 12 months before the Brexit vote and the presidential election.
"It’s a reminder to ourselves that it’s very easy for that kind of divisiveness to creep in."
While her role did not give her a mandate to opine on other countries’ policies — "as much as I’d like to" — she was pleased Prime Minister Bill English had voiced his disagreement with the United States’ introduction of entry restrictions on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.
It did not matter whether or not Mr English expressed his opinion to President Trump directly, Dame Susan said.
"The really important thing is that he gives the communities here the message hesupports them, and that our officials are doing their job in terms of making sure Muslims continue to be safe in this country.
"My concern is for Muslim New Zealanders, because they’re always the ones who are marginalised and isolated, and sometimes even attacked, when anything of this nature happens."
Dame Susan was the guest speaker at the event, organised by the resort’s Inner Wheel Club, to raise money for St John and the Lakes District Air Rescue Trust.