Lee was demoted from Cabinet in April last year, with Luxon stripping her of the media and communications portfolio.

On Sunday, he sacked Lee from her remaining ministerial roles, giving ethnic communities to Police Minister Mark Mitchell and economic growth (formerly economic development) to Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

Lee, a former broadcaster who produced the Asia Downunder diversity television programme, currently remains a list MP and was ranked number 13 on the National Party’s list for the 2023 election.

She narrowly lost her bid to win the Mount Albert electorate seat to the Labour Party’s Helen White by 18 votes.

Kelly Feng, chief executive at Asian Family Services, said the demotion announced Sunday was “significant”.

‘Not good optics’
“Replacing somebody who comes from ethnic communities, with someone who, shall we say, comes from the mainstream, is definitely not good optics,” Feng said.

“It’s not just me saying this, rather research proves it. The leadership should be more representative of our diverse population. This motivates our younger generation to come forward and strive for leadership roles.”

Feng thanked Lee for serving the ethnic communities of New Zealand for a long time and being a strong advocate for them.

Tayo Agunlejika, former president of Multicultural New Zealand, expressed shock at the announcement.

“I feel sad for her because I know how hard she worked over the past two decades to rise through the ranks and get the ministerial position,” Agunlejika said.

“For her to have lost the role within a year, and that, too, after finishing strong in 2024 with the launch of the Ethnic Evidence Report is shocking.”

Jaspreet Kandhari, general secretary of the New Zealand Indian Business Association, acknowledged Lee’s efforts in managing the ethnic communities’ portfolio.

Significant contributions
“She made significant contributions during her tenure as the minister for ethnic communities, particularly in publishing a comprehensive report on ethnic communities,” Kandhari said.

“Her work laid a foundation for important discussions on diversity and inclusion.”

Former National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, who entered Parliament with Lee in 2008, called her “exceptional in [her] ability to connect with the broader ethnic communities, fostering understanding and inclusion”.

“I believe the PM has made this decision on its merits. He has rightfully acknowledged the significant contributions Melissa Lee made as the minister of ethnic communities,” Singh said.

“Mark Mitchell, as the new ethnic communities minister, will bring his own strengths to the role. I am confident that he will be a strong advocate for ethnic communities and continue building on the foundations set by his predecessor.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Lois Yee, vice president of the New Zealand Chinese Association, who also shared a desire to work with Mitchell “to realise a vibrant, cohesive and inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand”.

Seeking holistic view
Meanwhile, Feng, whose organisation primarily works in the mental health space, wants Mitchell to take a holistic view of the issues faced by ethnic communities in New Zealand.

“The new minister of ethnic communities, who is also the minister of police, will definitely have a better understanding of law and order, which is one of the major issues for ethnic communities,” Feng said.

“But our hope is for Minister Mitchell to engage with the ethnic communities at a wider level, and look at other issues such as mental health, bullying in schools, and discrimination, which affects us disproportionately.”

Agunlejika said New Zealand’s ethnic communities needed “someone with an in-depth understanding of the community needs and aspirations, and the complexities within the ethnic communities”.

“I think Mike Mitchell’s relationship with New Zealand Police Ethnic Advisory Group might help,” Agunlejika said. “But, in 2025, I don’t think the appointment is reflective of the community, although [the appointment] might be the right experience needed.”

Mitchell said he was honoured to take on the ethnic communities’ portfolio.

“Law and order remain a significant issue for ethnic communities, and I welcome the opportunity to bring these portfolios [police and ethnic communities] together,” Mitchell said.

“Ethnic communities make a huge economic and cultural contribution, and I look forward to continuing to engage with a range of communities in this new role.

“I will spend the coming weeks getting up to speed with the challenges and opportunities, before setting out my priorities.”

Luxon told RNZ on Sunday that Lee had committed to staying on as a National MP to the 2026 election “at this point”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown has been tough on the mental wellbeing of Asian New Zealanders, according to new research.

The New Zealand Asian Mental Health and Well-being report, commissioned by charity Asian Family Services, found high levels of anxiety and nervousness, as well as racism.

The research surveyed 580 Asian New Zealanders across the country and found almost 44 percent of them experienced some form of mental distress since level 4 lockdown.

READ MORE: Al Jazeera coronavirus live updates – Global death toll passes half a million

Nervousness and anxiety are the most widely experienced (57 percent), followed by little interest or pleasure in doing things (55.2 percent), uncontrollable worrying (47.4 percent) and feeling down and hopeless (44 percent).

Asian Family Services director Kelly Feng said isolation, lack of support, family issues, academic or work pressure, new migrants adjusting to a new environment can all cause mental stress.

She said the findings correlate to what they were seeing on the ground.

“That’s quite true when over the lockdown, our service has also experienced high demand about emotional support and counselling services.”

Help primarily from friends
The report also finds that Asians primarily seek help from friends (44.1 percent) and family (42.6 percent), with just over a quarter (28.3 percent) saying they would see their doctor, comparing with the national figure of 69 percent according to the Health Promotion Agency.

A small portion (13.8 percent) did not seek any support at all, and Feng said it was concerning.

“That gives me an indication that we really need to promote or even do a campaign about mental wellbeing and addiction issues and raise awareness among Asian communities so people can seek help in the early stage and get a bit of early intervention rather than at the bottom of the cliff,” she said.

Just over 16 percent of respondents reported experiencing racial discrimination during the pandemic, and those who faced discrimination were also more likely to have mental health concerns.

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said the findings were alarming.

“I feel gutted and sad that people are receiving discrimination and racism. It doesn’t matter what the numbers are. It’s really important that we continue to try and implement progress in systems and education to eliminate racism,” he said.

“It’s good to have an analysis report on mental health and discrimination. I think there’s a lot of work to do ahead of us. It’s good to know where we can actually target our resources to support mental health.”

Kindness message helped
The study said the overall messaging of being kind to one another during the pandemic has likely contributed to the relatively low percentage of discrimination.

But Dr Andrew Zhu, director of Trace Research which carried out the study, said it was still serious.

“On a percentage base, it’s relatively small which means we’re on the way to achieving racial harmony, however if you translate this number into a population-based number, that’s around 84,000 adult population of Asian ethnicity which could still be counted as serious,” he said.

Koreans reported to have experienced discrimination the most, with 30 percent of those surveyed saying they’ve been discriminated against, followed by Chinese at just over 22 percent.

However, Chinese accounted for nearly half of the overall discrimination cases as it has the largest population base among all Asian ethnicities.

Data for this study was collected online between May 22 and June 3, and quota sampling was used to ensure representativeness of all Asian ethnic groups according to the 2018 census of Asian adult population distribution.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz