[1] The phrase "Closing the Gaps" was a slogan of the Labour Party in the 1999 election campaign and was implemented as a policy initiative in the 2000 Budget.
Closing the Gaps aimed to balance individual and collective rights and responsibilities by integrating Māori and Pacific Islanders more extensively into the paid labour market.
[5] Increasing inequality throughout the 1980s and 90s disproportionately affected Māori and Pacific Islanders, who were over-represented at the bottom of New Zealand's socio-economic landscape.
[3] Closing the Gaps was recognised as one of the foremost efforts of the 2000s to combat the heavy systemic racism Māori suffered in New Zealand.
Naturally, however, the National Party led a campaign to stoke fears among its heavily European New Zealander base that the efforts were "unfairly privileging" Māori and "threatening social cohesion".
Additionally, a focus on individual responsibility for reducing socio-economic gaps was criticised for failing to recognise the government's historical role as the excluding agent causing inequalities between Māori and non-Māori.
[6] After losing the 2002 election in a landslide, the opposition National Party campaigned, unsuccessfully, on a commitment to abolish Closing the Gaps and related affirmative action.