A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) quota has been discreetly incorporated into the 1997 NSW Health Services Act.

NSW Labor appeared to use a run-of-the-mill miscellaneous spelling corrections and grammatical adjustments procedure to hide the motion.

Passed into law on Thursday, Section 26 (4A) now requires local health district boards to have “at least 1 person who [self] identifies as an Aboriginal person.”

All you apparently need to do to secure a position on the board is identify as Aboriginal.

The amendment does not require evidence to back a claim of Indigenous ancestry, speak the local tribal dialect, or tribal affiliation.

The only vetting system – according to Labor Minister Rose Jackson – is a candidate’s ability to meet what appear to be largely subjective guidelines regarding experience, expertise, and level of engagement in the relevant field.

Unsurprisingly, abortion extremist, Greens MLC Dr. Amanda Cohn, applauded the melanin over merit amendment.

Channelling her inner Kamala Harris word salad, Cohn said, “These are small changes that will have a profound impact on the people who are impacted by them.”

Circling back, she explained that some Local Health Districts (LHDs) already meet the DEI demand for Aboriginal voice and visibility.

The three that don’t, Cohn effectively demanded, are not “culturally safe” and must be made to conform.

“It is really important that this be articulated as a requirement and consistently implemented across the State.”

Forcing the “representation of Aboriginal people on a powerful governing board for health services is really important,” Dr Cohn argued.

Citing “health disparities, she asserted without evidence that, “Racism, discrimination, and a lack of culturally safe services are barriers for First [Peoples], and those are having negative health impacts.”

Bizarrely, Cohn, the author of the most destructive abortion legislation ever proposed in NSW, stated that the DEI component would improve disparities in Indigenous maternity care.

For Cohn, putting melanin before merit was about helping the pre-born.

“Pre-term birth and low birth weight are substantially higher for First Nations babies,” Cohn claimed.

“[These] are associated with significant morbidity and mortality.

“Medical practitioners,” she agreed, “need to be on that committee, but,” Cohn then added, “So does someone like a cultural adviser, ensuring that care is not just safe from a medical perspective, but safe from a cultural perspective.”

John Ruddick caught the sly DEI insertion, called it out, then ferociously opposed the race-first requirement.

On brand, the NSW Libertarian MLC schooled the Legislative Council with a history lesson on the Labor Party’s near 100-year obsession with race.

“At the heart of identity politics is racism.”

“Some on the left think that if you include an Aboriginal person on the board, you have ticked a box and done something that appears progressive,” slammed Ruddick.

Ancestry, he affirmed, “should have no bearing on job applications.”

Bringing up the issue of fraud, he argued that the grievance industry coddled by Australian governments was enabling grifters.

“The other issue that cannot go unmentioned is the fraudulent claims of individuals who try to pass themselves off as Aboriginals but are not,” he said.

For example, “The University of Sydney allows staff and students to self-identify as Aboriginal without any evidence.”

“When incentives are provided, people are going to take them up.”

Also opposing the bill, rising star, NSW Independent Rod Roberts, said he took issue with the DEI amendment’s use of the word “must.”

“The amendment does not say ‘may’ or ‘should’.

“It makes clear that a person who identifies as an Aboriginal must be on each board.”

The bill is flawed in a big way, he remarked.

“Suppose a local health district board struggles to fill the vacancy for an Aboriginal-identifying person.”

The board would be in breach of the Act until it had satisfied the race-based quota tokenism.

In reply, NSW Labor’s Rose Jackson “categorically rejected” the idea that the DEI insertion was “sneaky.”

Unfortunately, she said the melanin over merit fiat was necessary.

The minister for mental health then proceeded to blame Hospitals for their role in the so-called “stolen generation policy.”

Jackson essentially accused NSW hospitals of perpetuating generational trauma, stating that they are “scary places for Aboriginal Australians.”

Implying systemic racism was the problem, she made a point of mentioning that there were no Aboriginals in the Legislative Council.

Flustered by Ruddick’s firm opposition, Jackson said the bill was about racism, just not Labor’s racist history. 

This isn’t about “box ticking, virtue signalling or any of the other ‘Jim Crow’ or ‘free trader’ nonsense,” she stated.

Responding to Roberts, although Jackson said his concerns were legally valid, they were a non-issue.

Labor, she concluded, strongly supported the amendment’s voice and visibility DEI demand. 

Read the full exchange in the Hansard here.