Pacific women's NGO rejects Prime Minister’s pay equity defence

A Pacific women’s advocacy group calls the Government’s rollback of pay equity protections “a betrayal” that abandons the country's most undervalued workers.

The Pay Equity Amendment Act 2025 was passed under urgency earlier this month, without public consultation. It introduces stricter rules for who can lodge a pay equity claim, requiring a job to be at least 70 per cent female for 10 years, and cancels 33 active claims already in progress.

Many of these claims came from essential, yet low-paid sectors, such as cleaning, aged care, education and nursing, where Pacific women are overrepresented.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon describes the former law as “unworkable and unaffordable,” while Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says the new process is “robust, workable, and sustainable.”

Velden argues that some claims lacked robust evidence and that broad claims made it difficult to tell if pay gaps were caused by sex-based discrimination or something else.

Critics argue the change guts the mechanism meant to fix historic underpayment of women in feminised industries, particularly Pacific and Māori women.

The Public Service Association described it as “a very dark day,” which made it more difficult for women to seek justice, let alone attain a needed and deserved pay rate. PACIFICA Inc., a national non-government organisation (NGO), calls the rollback “a step backwards for Pacific women” and sends the message that their work, worth, and voices do not matter.

Speaking to John Pulu on Pacific Mornings, PACIFICA President Repeka Lelaulu criticises Luxon’s justification for the rollback as “confusing and disappointing”.

“Luxon went on about clarity and creating clear pathways for our Pacific women and families,” Lelaulu says. “I was quite confused because he talks about the clarity. The pathway is very clear, and Pacific women and their families aren't on that pathway.

“He talks about saving money for the Government but that money that's being saved is going to come from our women that work in jobs that are undervalued and underpaid. He talks about the difference, too, about pay equity and equal pay, and we understand the difference between pay equity and equal pay.”

Watch Repeka Lelaulu’s full interview below.

Luxon rejects claims that the changes would reduce women’s pay, saying, “equal pay remains…pay parity remains, no change, collective bargaining remains, no change, and settlements that have already happened under pay equity, no change”.

Lelaulu rejects the Prime Minister’s claim that protections remain, pointing to the 33 cancelled claims as evidence demonstrating how years of work have been disregarded.

“These bills are thousands of people that have come forward in their own time,” she says. “Saunoamaali'i Dr Karanina Sumeo and former Equal Employment Commissioners like Dr Jackie Blue - these women, they've fought for a long time, spent thousands of hours to put these bills forward.”

Lelaulu says over 30 women’s organisations, including the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and the Ministry for Women, gathered in Wellington last week and raised shared concerns.

“Last year in Geneva, Saunoamaali'i Dr Karanina Sumeo and [YWCA’s] Dellwyn Stuart, we were at the United Nations,” she explains. “The New Zealand Government prides itself on standing up for discrimination against women and then we come home to this. The Government needs to reverse these actions.”

PACIFICA’s 2023 wellbeing report, Voices of Pacific Women and Girls in Aotearoa, found a 27 per cent pay gap between Pacific women and Pākehā men, equating to an annual shortfall of nearly $25,000. Also, one in five Pacific women are in the workforce; the average hourly wage of a Pacific worker is $25.22, compared to $32.29 for non-Pacific workers in the sector.

“These are the figures that were from the statistics that were given to us. Our wellbeing report was done in 2023, but the figures aren't too different now,” Lelaulu says.

The Voices of Pacific Women and Girls in Aotearoa report shows 61 per cent of the pay gap for Pacific women is unexplained. Photo/Supplied

Budget Day

With Budget 2025 on Thursday, Lelaulu remains sceptical that Pacific communities will be prioritised but hopes they will be, especially considering the plethora of government and media reports on the issue.

“They need to show some compassion and empathy towards us,” she says. “We've been part of the workforce since the mid-1950s. They need to pay some respect and give us back our dignity that the removal of these claims has taken away.

“I want to encourage our women and families to continue to use our voices, and we need to stand united. We have other groups that are standing with us, and that means a lot to me.

“Over 30 organisations, these are international women's groups that are standing with us to support us - if that's not a message to the Government, then what is? We need to keep our faith and just keep praying.”