The Inquiry's final report, Implementing the right to a decent home in Aotearoa: Fairness and dignity for all, set out to help central and local government, and every individual, whānau, organisation, community, and business realise the right to a decent home for everyone in Aotearoa. The final report devotes a chapter to how policy makers can integrate the right to a decent home and te Tiriti o Waitangi into their housing policies, for which the Commission sought feedback from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. The Commission hopes this chapter will encourage policy makers to introduce human rights early into policy processes and not leave it as a late tick-box compliance exercise. The final report sets out six recommendations. All six are aimed at the system level to ensure we have the framework and structures in place to help realise the right to a decent home. One of the consistent recommendations throughout the Inquiry has been the need to strengthen accountability and participation across the housing system – including through the establishment of effective constructive accountability mechanisms. The report is complemented by a toolkit with further resources to help people understand the right to a decent home, support and strengthen housing advocacy, and guide housing providers and developers on how it can be upheld in their work. Although we have now brought our Housing Inquiry to a close, the Commission will continue to do all it can to advance the right to a decent home and Te Tiriti o Waitangi and ensure that people’s dignity and mana is respected by the system, as well as help to strengthen and improve the government’s policies. Case study – Advocating for pay equity and transparency 20 Aotearoa New Zealand has both domestic and international human rights obligations to eliminate discrimination in the workplace and provide a safe and inclusive environment for all workers. In 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Commissioner launched a national inquiry into the Pacific Pay Gap, due to the wide and persistent pay gap between Pacific workers and other workers. In 2021, the gap between the median hourly earnings of Pacific men and Pākehā men was 18.8 percent. The gap between Pacific women and Pākehā men was even larger, at 25.1 percent. In October 2022, after hearing from over 1,200 individuals, including Pacific workers, employers, and community leaders, the Inquiry released its final report, “Voices of Pacific people: eliminating pay gaps”. The report captures Pacific peoples’ inherent sense of dignity and pride in their identity, as well as lived experiences of racism in the workplace. 2022. Together with Empirical Data Analysis of Pacific, Māori and Ethnic Pay Gaps and Experiences of Workplace Bullying and Harassment in Aotearoa New Zealand, the evidence base confirms the need for urgent action to close not only Pacific, but also Māori and other ethnic pay gaps. It sits alongside a comprehensive literature review on Pacific peoples’ experiences of the workplace in Aotearoa, also released in • broadening the prohibited grounds for pay discrimination in the Equal Pay Act to include ethnicity and disability. Pūrongo ā-tau Annual Report 2023 The Inquiry identified: • gaps in legislation and policies • a lack of visible commitment and leadership from businesses • a culture of indifference towards pay inequality based on ethnicity that has allowed unfairness, discrimination, and hardship to persist in the lives of Pacific workers. The report’s recommendations included: • calling for urgent pay transparency legislation • increasing the minimum wage to a living wage