New Zealand’s newly established graduate program for ethnic communities began on Monday and will span across multiple public agencies. “New Zealand is growing in diversity,” Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities Priyanca Radhakrishnan said while welcoming the first participants of the program. The Ethnic Communities Graduate Program will provide a pathway into the public service for skilled graduates from ethnic communities while also improving cultural competency across the public sector, said the minister. The program will see 23 graduates start work across 12 agencies, including the intelligence community, as part of the government’s response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques on March 15, 2019, which highlighted the need for more diversity across the public service, she said.