Mixed feelings among Pasifika about Budget 2025
The Pasifika community is bracing for what is expected to be tightened government spending. From community support at home to aid for the wider region, Pasifika are hoping for the best, but many of those working in the community are feeling pessimistic about what Budget Day has in store for them. Kaya Selby has more.
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RNZ News
16 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Education Minister cut Māori words from future junior books, documents reveal
Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Education Minister Erica Stanford has imposed a near total ban on Māori in new additions to a series of books used to teach five-year-olds to read. An Education Ministry report shows Stanford decided in October last year to exclude all Māori words except for characters' names from any new books in the Education Ministry's Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) series. The paper showed the decision was driven by concern Māori words were confusing for children learning to read English though evidence of that was mixed. Stanford told RNZ the decision affected only 12 books that would finish the series, after which the series, including 27 books with Māori words, could be reprinted. The ministry's report said: "Under this option, we would not include kupu Māori in all phases of the RtRPP scope and sequence for any future books. The 13 RtRPP books currently in development do not contain any kupu Māori, apart from character names." It was not clear in the paper whether the books would be reprinted. "As noted above, the RtRPP resources are expected to have a lifespan in schools of approximately 10 years, so it would take several years for the books containing kupu Māori that are currently in circulation to be replaced in practice." The document showed Stanford also instructed the ministry to develop a teaching sequence in the English curriculum to help teachers prepare children to read Māori words from their second year at school. Stanford told RNZ that would stop teaching children in mainstream classrooms to pronounce and read Māori from being "left to chance". The ministry's document said currently from Year 4, Māori words were included in the curriculum with increasing frequency and complexity. Stanford told RNZ she considered rewriting the 27 books that contained Māori words to retain only the proper nouns in Māori, but later decided against it. "These are very early readers that teach children to learn to read and there are already 'heart' words in there that children have to memorise in English and if there are some te reo words in there as well, then that's okay and we'll leave them as they are," she said. She described the decision as the middle position between conflicting advice. The minister's October decision included reprinting one of the books, 'At the Marae', as a big book but not as a 'reader' for children to take home - something that angered many teachers and principals in the past week. The document showed Stanford raised the issue after "experts in structured literacy approaches" told her that including two different languages in the books could confuse learners and make it harder for them to master English phonetics. The ministry's paper said evidence about that was mixed but there was a case to consider the amount of Māori words in books for children learning to read. Literacy experts told RNZ this week Māori words were part of everyday New Zealand English and did not present problems for beginning readers because their spelling was regular and their vowel sounds matched some of the English vowels. The document said 26 of the 75 Ready to Read books had up to three Māori words and a 27th, 'At the Marae', had six Māori words. A hand-written note on the document showed the minister wanted te reo Māori introduced when children stopped using "decodable" books like the Ready to Read series, usually at the end of their first year at school or early in their second year. "I want to include in the NZC (English) a section on Te Reo vowel sounds and pronunciation to ready students for reading te reo words in school journals as previously discussed," she wrote. Stanford also noted that: "Interestingly - I asked kura leaders if they would accept English words in te reo Māori decodable books and they no. So it would be consistent to keep one language only in very early Year 1 decodable books, except for names." The ministry's paper said the Ready to Read series was designed to teach the reading of English "and the sound-letter correspondences in English". "Our advice to schools is to teach kupu Māori in RtRPP books as "told" words. The foundational skill of phonic decoding within the resoruces is based on the English language and students are not expected to decode the kupu Māori," it said. The paper warned the options could result in pushback from schools. "If we discontinue the use of kupu Māori (apart from character names) in RtRPP books, there may be a negative response and media attention. [REDACTED] In particular, recalling existing books has the potential to generate pushback." The minister wrote in response: "It's only in Year 1 decodable books that teach English and it would align with the approach taken in te reo decodables. Te Reo would be introduced immediately after the use of decodable stops which is typically end of Year 1 early Year 2 where students move on to journals." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
How ACC plans to manage the estimated $3.6b cost of compensation for abuse survivors
ACC chief executive Megan Main Photo: Supplied / ACC A significant number of abuse victims could be eligible for ACC compensation following a landmark court ruling that could cost it billions of dollars. But ACC will not immediately be contacting everyone it believes might be eligible, due to fears of retraumatising them and its case managers being overwhelmed. Advocates and a survivor fear the corporation is stalling to avoid paying out. The landmark Court of Appeal decision - TN vs ACC, issued in December 2023 - made more childhood abuse survivors eligible for financial compensation. ACC estimated it could affect 100,000 people and cost it $3.6 billion. Nearly two years since the decision was issued, ACC has decided how it will "fully implement" the ruling from 29 September. Anyone unable to work due to a mental injury arising from childhood sexual abuse can apply for weekly compensation, known as Loss of Potential Earnings (LOPE) payments. Previously, the date of injury for LOPE was the date they first sought treatment for a mental injury and this had to be before they were 18 years old. The 2023 TN vs ACC Court of Appeal decision removed the age limit and changed the date of injury to the date the abuse occurred. In the case of TN, the claimant was abused from the age of two but prevented from seeking help by her family, which meant she could not report the abuse before she turned 18. ACC applied interim measures while it worked out how it would "fully implement" the court decision. Last month, it estimated that about 262 people between June 2023 and April this year had been accepted for LOPE payments as a result of the case , totalling $50 million. At the time, TN's lawyer Beatrix Woodhouse questioned the small number and said many ACC clients were not being made aware they might now be eligible or could apply. Internal documents showed ACC had identified "significant numbers" of clients who were now likely to be eligible for LOPE, but it had decided not to proactively tell everyone. "To avoid unwanted or potentially traumatic contact and unnecessarily raising client expectations, we will only proactively approach clients where we can identify a reasonably high likelihood of LOPE eligibility," a March ACC board paper stated. Only clients with active sensitive claims would be approached to "reduce the risks of retraumatising clients who do not have active psychological support from ACC in place". A "trial screening" - carried out in February 2024 - identified 420 clients most likely to be eligible for compensation and further analysis found some were already undergoing assessments for compensation, while others were not entitled or did not wish to be considered, the paper said. ACC advocate and lawyer Warren Forster described ACC's approach as "quite shocking". Warren Forster Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer "What ACC is effectively saying is 'we are not going to tell people that they might be entitled to this' even though they've got covered claims. "They've calculated there are thousands of people in this category and they've said they'll only approach 420. That's a concern. "In the context of political pressure on ACC to stop paying and indications from the minister that they might change this approach anyway, it seems like ACC is just stalling." It was not ACC's place to decide what would retraumatise clients and everyone who might be eligible for compensation should be notified, he said. In an interview, ACC chief executive Megan Main told RNZ it knew from experience that clients were likely to be impacted when contacted proactively to discuss financial entitlements. That was why it was taking a "phased approach" and taking its time "to get it right". "We've prioritised working with new clients and clients seeking reassessment who are, by reaching out, indicating they're ready." ACC would start to proactively contact clients it believed were most likely to be entitled to compensation next year. "We'll work with providers, the advocate groups, we'll learn from survivors themselves about how they're responding to this," said Main. The TN decision was difficult for ACC to implement, she said. "This is a significant and quite complex change to how we make decisions about financial entitlements … and these are some of our most vulnerable clients. "It's why we are treading carefully." ACC currently had 15,000 sensitive claims clients and around 800 open applications for LOPE, she said. An ACC client, who only wanted to be known as Lew, said the process of applying for LOPE itself was long and traumatising. Lew suffered from post traumatic stress disorder from being abused as a child in state care. He had never been able to hold down a job for long and now in his 30s was unable to work at all. He applied for LOPE in August last year after learning about the TN decision and has already gone through the two standard assessments to work out his eligibility, but the process was "traumatising" and "challenging", and had made his mental health worse. "This process with ACC has actually affected my mental health so bad that I cannot work at the moment. I'm fighting a multibillion dollar corporation and I don't have a cent." ACC told him in April that he needed a third assessment but due to a shortage of therapists this could not be done until October. He questioned why ACC was choosing not to contact clients it believed may be entitled to compensation. "They don't want to contact clients because they don't want to pay them out. They don't give a crap how traumatised these clients are, like myself, otherwise they would have sorted [my compensation] out." In a statement, ACC said multiple assessments were sometimes required which could be frustrating for clients. "The complexity of Lew's case has meant an additional medical assessment is also required. This will help us fully understand how his covered injury is affecting his ability to work," it said. Photo: Unsplash/ Kristina Flour While overall most people would benefit from the TN ruling, some clients would end up worse off. For example, if someone abused as a child had been working, but then could no longer work due to the mental injury arising from that abuse, they currently may be receiving weekly compensation based on 80 percent of their earnings. Under TN, their weekly compensation may switch to LOPE, which was typically 80 percent of the minimum wage. Main said ACC would work with those negatively impacted to ensure they were supported. "So just to be clear, at the moment, we're not making any changes to any of those clients' existing financial entitlements, and we would expect to begin contacting those clients next year. "If we identify that this new court ruling might impact their existing financial entitlements, we'll let them know, we'll help them understand what it means for them, we'd make sure they've got support from their provider to move, to move through that, and that wraparound support is there." There was usually a four-week grace period for people switching between entitlements, but Main said ACC had not yet decided if this would apply to those left worse off by TN. ACC documents said a phased approach was needed to limit the impact on staff and providers. There was a "high risk" an influx of LOPE applications could put a strain on frontline resources, and staff could also be in the firing line as they bear the brunt of unhappy clients left worse off. High case loads of between 100 and 120 active cases per case manager meant some staff had not had the chance to discuss the potential impacts of the TN decision with clients. "There is a risk for vulnerable clients when their expectations are not met (and associated reputational risk for ACC) that will need to be managed through clear and effective communications." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Average house prices fall - except in the deep south
The latest house price index from Quotable Value showed the national average home value fell 0.5 percent in the three months ended June to $909,671. Photo: Unsplash/ Towfiqu Barbhuiya Property values ticked lower in the July quarter as the winter freeze continues, but the deep south continues to buck the trend. The latest house price index from Quotable Value (QV) showed the national average home value fell 0.5 percent in the three months ended June to $909,671. Values remained almost unchanged versus a year ago, but around 13.0 percent below the peak in late 2021. The biggest rises were in Queenstown-Lakes, up 2.4 percent to $1.86 million, while Tauranga City rose 1.7 percent to $1.03 million. Wellington recorded the biggest fall, down 2.3 percent to $818,274 followed by Nelson City which fell 2.2 percent to $781,443. Auckland values eased 1.2 percent to $1.22 million, Hamilton fell 1.0 percent to $784,642, and Christchurch fell 0.2 percent to $775,030. QV spokesperson Andrea Rush said most activity was occurring at the lower to mid-value end of the market, with first-home buyers and owner-occupiers the busiest in cheaper areas. Rush said market conditions continue to vary by location and property type, with some regional centres experiencing renewed value growth off the back of earlier declines and ongoing demand for affordable housing. "While national value levels have broadly stabilised, the recovery is uneven and fragile. Vendors in many areas are having to meet the market to achieve a sale, while some buyers remain hesitant due to broader economic uncertainty," she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
