Closing the gaps

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"Closing the Gaps" was the name given to an official New Zealand government policy of assisting socially-disadvantaged ethnic groups, particularly Māori and Pacific Islanders, through specially-targeted social programmes. The phrase came to prominence during the term of various National Party-led governments between 1992 and 1999. All government departments were required to report on how their service contributed to "Closing the Gaps".

Shortly after the Labour Party came to power in late 1999, the term quietly disappeared from current official documents. Opposition politicians observed that the new government still had a "Closing the Gaps" policy objective, but just did not refer to the policy by that name.

In June, 2000, Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First party, described the program as "social apartheid".^[1]

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