" I think calling people who tick the New Zealander box racist is a debasement of the term. I prefer to save it for actual instances of racist attitudes or behaviour."

This is a fair point.
I agree that many/most of the people who tick "New Zealander" are not racist individuals.

This does not mean that the effect of such a ticking (?) does not have a racist denotation.

If my physical attributes/genetic makeup mark me as Caucasian, and I state that "New Zealander" is my ethnicity, it's pretty damn hard for someone with different physical attributes than me to argue they are also a New Zealander by ethnicity.

Neil,
The reason this Pakeha doesn't answer "New Zealander" as her ethnicity is that it is not an ethnicity. It's a nationality.
It's that simple.

Saying "I'm a New Zealander" when the subtext is "I am Caucasian" is racist (I'm not saying you are racist) because the implication is that other New Zealanders (non-white) are somehow less New Zealandish than us.
(I'm assuming broadly here that you are also Ngati Pakeha, if not, aroha mai).
I realise most of this has been stated already , probably in forms far more articulate than mine, but I just really wanted to get in on what I see as an excellent discussion we all should have, early and often.

BTW, I speak a bit of Te Reo, and I have always used Pakeha for ethnically Caucasian New Zealanders and Tauiwi for foreigners visiting NZ, or very recent migrants, of any ethnicity.

Can any fluent speakers correct/substantiate this distinction for me?