A University of Auckland student is hitting back at claims by the Act party that designated spaces for Māori and Pasifika are racist, claiming they are vital for their wellbeing.

Photos show a sign outside a study area in the central Auckland campus saying: “This is a designated area for Māori and Pasifika students”.

The coalition Government party said the signs were reminiscent of an “ugly past” that New Zealand has left behind. The tertiary education spokesperson is investigating whether other universities have the same areas and attempting to shut them down.

University of Auckland law student Shakeel Shamaail, of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kurī and Taranaki descent, was outraged at the Act Party’s position, saying the spaces are vital for wellbeing and counter discrimination they face daily.

The spaces for Māori and Pasifika are a long-standing tradition at the University of Auckland and were championed by writer Ranginui Walker and politicians Hone Harawira and Efeso Collins.

Shamaail said Māori and Pasifika students deserve exclusive spaces and it is a long-standing tradition. The spaces create “balance in what would otherwise be an imbalanced university scene”.

Shakeel Shamaail says shared spaces for Māori and Pasifika students at Auckland University are vital for wellbeing. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Māori and Pasifika students on campus are willing to go to “great lengths” to fight for their spaces and community on campus, he said.

“At no point are we ever going to give up on this fight and pretend like the discrimination we are up against is alright,” Shamaail said.

“It’s spaces like these which we can call our tūrangawaewae, to see these spaces which some of us consider wāhi tapu because that’s all we got to come under immense scrutiny discrimination against simply because those are spaces are for our people.”

An area for Māori and Pasifika students at Auckland University has stirred controversy.

Act tertiary education spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar said she is contacting all the universities in the country and will be attempting to remove the “segregated” areas.

She said the signs are reminiscent of an “ugly past” that New Zealand has left behind.

She wants an explanation from Auckland University to the taxpayers who “keep their doors open”.

“It is disappointing that it even needs to be said, but Act’s position is that blocking people from spaces based on their ethnicity is unequivocally wrong,” Parmar said.

Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters said the university’s actions were comparable to alt-right racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

“It is phenomenal that we not only would accept this as New Zealanders, but that some people have not learnt the lessons of our world’s history of horrors with this type of thinking,” Peters said.

The University of Auckland has been approached for comment.

Rachel Maher is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. She has worked for the Herald since 2022.