Kiwis worried about arrest over student loan debt crackdowns
A former IRD prosecutor is calling for changes to the student loan system so that Kiwis living overseas aren't put off coming home because they're worried about being arrested at the border. In April, interest rates for overseas borrowers was lifted from 3.9% to 4.9% and the late payment interest rate for all borrowers to 8.9%. Tax barrister Dave Ananth says this is putting people off returning to New Zealand at a time we should be encouraging skilled people to come home. Bella Craig reports.
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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Far North Mayor calls on New Zealanders to vote for Māori wards in October
Far North Mayor Moko Tepania (fourth from left) and Deputy Mayor Kelly Stratford to his right, at the council's 2022 pōwhiri at Waitangi for the incoming 2022-2025 council, including its first-time Māori ward politicians (from left)Babe Kapa, Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, Tāmati Rākena and Penetaui Kleskovic. Photo: LDR / NZME Far North Mayor Moko Tepania is calling on all New Zealanders to vote to keep Māori wards at the October local elections polling. On 11 October polling will close at 42 councils on whether to continue with Māori wards. Earlier polls have typically resulted in councils' Māori ward plans being canned. But the Far North mayor has predicted that will change, because in places like his district people have had a chance to see their Māori wards in action. Tepania predicts Far Northerners will poll in favour of keeping Far North District Council (FNDC)'s Ngā Tai o Tokerau Maori ward and Northland Regional Council (NRC)'s Te Raki Māori constituency. "I am optimistic that because of (Te Tai Tokerau's) Waitangi, the home of the nation where He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni /Declaration of Independence of New Zealand and Te Tiriti o Waitangi were signed, there'll be a positive vote by electors to keep our Māori ward. "If anywhere in New Zealand can do it, we can," Tepania said. Almost 52 percent of people in the Far North identify as Māori, one of New Zealand's highest percentages. Tepania, who is Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ)'s Northland board member, said he did not agree with the requirement for his council to have to poll electors about its Māori ward. The council in September said it was not a foregone conclusion polling would happen after it chose to recommit to its Māori ward. FNDC first polled its electors on setting up a Māori ward during a 2015 representation review. Two-thirds of electors voted against this, one-third for. The binding poll precluded the establishment of a Māori ward in the following two elections - 2016 and 2019. Tepania said that rejection was because Far Northerners had not had a chance to see a Māori ward in action. That had changed with Ngā Tai o Tokerau starting life three years ago. The council's first term Māori ward had surpassed expectations. He claimed there were many achievements that had been made - for all constituents - with the presence of the ward and its four councillors. Māori ward councillors' connections into the community had helped make significant infrastructure improvements for all in the Far North, he said. Examples of this included working towards resolving longstanding Kaitāia Airport land ownership issues. Māori ward Cr Hilda Halkyard-Harawira had received an award from LGNZ's Te Maruata Māori council politicians' group for her mahi including the airport where she championed the return of the land the airport sits on to Ngāi Takoto and Te Pātu, and government funding. She'd also had a key role in working towards a more environmentally and culturally sustainable solution to address growing local community concerns over wastewater discharging into Hokianga Harbour, Tepania said. Māori ward Cr Tāmati Rākena had played a key role in the North Hokianga roading working group, successfully dealing with the Panguru and Motuti slips. The group was formally set up in 2024 between the council and mana whenua to address local roading issues. Northland Māori ward politicians currently make up 20 percent of the region's elected representatives. Tepania said Māori wards went towards council meeting its requirements to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi under the Local Government Act. Polling outcomes will take effect from the 2028 local elections, with the decision being binding for the 2028 and 2031 elections. Northlanders across Far North District Council (FNDC), Whangārei District Council (WDC) and Northland Regional Council (NRC) are among electors at 42 councils who will get to have their say in the binding poll with the following words: "I vote to keep the Māori ward / constituency" "I vote to remove the Māori ward / constituency" FNDC's Cr Kapa said Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori ward had given Māori a voice they'd not had previously. He said it offered a path inside the council chamber for those who had sat outside. And it brought new opportunity for Māori outside traditional leadership roles to take part. He said it was important all local election voters in the Far North voted and also had their polling say in October. Kapa said the council was now working more closely with Northland iwi as a result of the new electoral areas. Its Te Pae o Uta policy underpinning how the council included Te Ao Māori in its operations had boosted responsiveness to the local community. Te Kahu o Taonui (Northland Iwi Chairs Forum) member Pita Tipene co-chaired the council's Te Kauaka Māori committee. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Tight job market limits career mobility for Asian workers
Photo: AFP Asian workers are increasingly finding themselves stuck in their current roles, with the tight job market making it harder to earn a promotion or find work elsewhere. The same is true for employees across the country in such market conditions but Asian workers face additional barriers related to language ability and migrant backgrounds that exacerbate their plight. New Zealand's unemployment rate held steady at 5.1 percent in the March quarter, meaning that roughly 156,000 people are currently out of work - the highest level since 2020. As a record number of job seekers compete for a shrinking pool of opportunities, Asian workers are feeling the strain. Many say they face limited career mobility, caught between an economic slowdown and a tightening labor market. A visitor service coordinator working in Auckland's public sector said low pay was a key reason he was considering leaving his job. "I've been in this role for three years, but my annual salary is just over $60,000," he said. "It's low and doesn't even meet New Zealand's median wage." The worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to job loss fears, said he had applied for nearly 100 roles similar to his current position in the past six months. To improve his chances, he had spent several hundred dollars on professional resume writing services but still received few interview opportunities. Seeking a pathway into a higher-paying career, he spent the past two years studying part time for a postgraduate diploma in applied business at Unitec. Before graduating, he began applying for business analyst roles but has so far been unsuccessful. "I got two interviews with two companies, but didn't get any further," he said. "It's hard to break into a new field unless you're exceptionally good." Photo: 123RF He said his migrant background also made it harder to advance in his career. "Locals find it much easier to get into management positions," he said. "But if you're an immigrant here, I feel it's much more difficult." "If it's hard to be promoted into senior roles, your salary is unlikely to grow," he said. "That's why I want to move into another field." He said he would not consider leaving his current job until he secured a new position with better pay. "I definitely won't quit my current job," he said. "If I don't have a job, I don't have income. I have two kids to care for and a mortgage to pay." A junior data engineer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity due to job loss fears, has been working at a market research agency in Auckland for the past 18 months. The woman said she had applied for 30 data engineer positions over the past four months, hoping to land a role at a larger company with a higher salary and better benefits - without success. "My current annual salary is around $72,000," she said."After two years, you can typically move up to a data engineer role, which pays between $90,000 and $100,000. But I haven't seen that kind of progression in my current position." She said the job market remained sluggish, with few openings available. "Positions similar to mine are limited right now," she said. "I've applied to every role that matches my qualifications and experience. "I only get responses when someone refers me internally, but interview opportunities are still limited. For the jobs I apply for online, without a referral, I rarely hear back." Photo: RNZ Eric, who asked that his family name be withheld due to job loss concerns, works as an account manager at a digital marketing agency in Auckland. Originally from Beijing, he previously spent six years working as a business analyst in China. He said his current annual salary was around $70,000 - significantly lower than what he earned in his previous role. However, he has struggled to find a similar position with comparable pay in New Zealand's tight job market. "I've sent out around 100 CVs since March," he said. "I barely hear back - only one interview, and that was with an Australian company, not a New Zealand one." Currently on a Partner of a Student Work Visa, he said it was difficult for migrants to secure jobs in today's competitive market. He planned to continue pursuing a higher-paying role at a larger company, though he was not optimistic about the job market this year. "I don't feel the overall employment market has improved," he said. "Many people - myself included - expected things to get better this year, or at least not worse," he said. "But, so far, it hasn't gone the way we hoped. We're still hearing about more redundancies." According to Seek New Zealand's monthly report in May , job advertisements fell 2 percent compared to April and were down 8 percent from a year earlier - the slowest annual decline in more than two years. At the same time, applications per job ad rose 2 percent month on month to a record high. Seek country manager Rob Clark said the employment market felt like it was bumping along the bottom of the cycle, and, while things were not getting better, they were also not getting appreciably worse. Shay Peters, chief executive at recruitment agency Robert Walters Australia and New Zealand Photo: Supplied Shay Peters, chief executive at recruitment agency Robert Walters Australia and New Zealand, said the job market in New Zealand remained relatively tight. While there were still a high number of applications for each vacancy, he said many candidates were not necessarily well aligned with the roles they were applying for. "People are broadening their search, applying for positions either above or below their usual level due to the challenging job market and a limited number of roles at their experience level," he said. Peters said the biggest challenge job seekers faced right now was the imbalance between the number of candidates and the limited roles available. At the same time, he said, job seekers could no longer expect significant salary increases, as employers were holding firm on budgets. The Treasury's Budget Economic and Fiscal Update for 2025 expected the unemployment rate would rise to 5.4 percent in the June quarter, before gradually declining to 4.3 percent by the end of the forecast period. The Reserve Bank, meanwhile, expected unemployment to peak at 5.2 percent mid-year before easing back to 5.1 percent by the December quarter. Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, said the unemployment rate was likely to edge higher in the June and possibly September quarters amid ongoing uncertainty. "[It's] international events - particularly tariffs and the trade war, but also unrest in the Middle East," he said. "We think both of those will just delay the pickup in hiring and employment that we have been anticipating to come through in the second part of this year." Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King Kiernan said the labour market remained weak, possibly taking longer than expected to recover. Mark Smith, senior economist at ASB, said the unemployment rate typically followed the health of the broader economy. While there were some positive signs - namely, lower interest rates and favourable export prices across several major sectors - he said it would take time for hiring demand and consumer spending to pick up. "Lower interest rates are feeding through slowly, existing borrowers won't benefit from that until they reach their next reset period," he said. "Households in particular on average have probably fixed their mortgages for about a year - some more, some less - when you get a move in interest rates, you know it can take a full year before everyone actually benefits from it. "Other notable positives are some quite favorable export prices across a range of our major exports - like dairy, meat, fruit and even forestry," Smith said. "There is some good income growth for farmers, but they're not big employers," he said. "There are a few [positive] things there," he said, "but it's not pointing to an immediate upturn in hiring demand." Mark Smith, senior economist at ASB Photo: Supplied Smith said ASB expected the unemployment rate to rise a bit further this year, and New Zealanders might have to wait until the end of the year to see any sign of it starting to decline. He said once consumer spending picked up, industries such as retail, wholesale and personal services might begin to see an upturn. However, the construction sector might take longer to recover due to its long cycles and ongoing job losses, he said. Meanwhile, healthcare and education - sectors with large percentages of government funding - continued to perform relatively well and saw sustained job growth, he said. Smith said New Zealand's adult population continued to grow, driven by both net migration and natural increases. The challenge for job seekers, he said, was that not enough new jobs were being created to absorb population growth. "A key issue is not just when we see employment rising," he said, "but whether it's rising fast enough to absorb population growth."
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Kitchen appliance supplier in spotlight over failure to deliver products, return payments
A Stone Appliance Ltd store in the Auckland suburb of East Tāmaki. Photo: Supplied An Auckland kitchen appliance supplier is at the centre of a dispute with at least eight customers who are demanding payments to be returned after failing to receive the goods they ordered. The customers claimed Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd owed amounts ranging from around $10,000 to $60,000, totalling more than $270,000. A spokesperson for the supplier said it was "seeking legal advice". Several customers said they had filed a complaint against Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd, previously known as Stone Appliance Ltd, with the Disputes Tribunal. At least one customer had filed a complaint with police. Property developer Tim Cai claimed Stone Appliance Ltd owed him about $21,000. Cai belonged to a WeChat group describing themselves as victims of the business. In April last year, Cai contacted the business to purchase commercial kitchen appliances, including cooktops, dishwashers and fridges, worth $223,664. Cai was told the goods would be delivered by February 2025. The quote he received required a 50 percent deposit. He paid a $10,000 deposit to secure the goods in May last year. A month later, business owner Haozhen Shi - who is also known as Stone - asked Cai for an additional $20,000 to secure the order, citing high demand for the goods. Cai agreed to pay half of the amount, he said. When Shi asked Cai to pay another $20,000 in December, he refused. Cai claimed he was later owed additional money after the business installed an inferior stovetop when replacing a broken unit. Cai contacted the business for an update ahead of the due delivery date but was initially unsuccessful. "Over a dozen phone calls and messages were sent," Cai said. "Most calls and messages went unanswered." The company eventually told Cai it was in no position to deliver the goods or return the deposit. Developer Reggie Wang ordered goods worth more than $55,000 from Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd in November. He paid a deposit and was contacted by the company in March, saying that the appliances Wang had ordered were ready for delivery. "I was asked to pay the outstanding amount, which I did on the day," Wang said. However, the appliances Wang ordered never arrived. "When I told them that I was in urgent need of the appliances, they replied that they were working on it," Wang said. "It has been three months and there is no additional information," he said. "No goods have been delivered." Wang contacted a lawyer and was prepared to take the business owner to court. Developer Kevin To claimed the supplier owed him about $61,000. He paid Stone Appliance Ltd close to $100,000 for a shipment of appliances in 2021, but products worth nearly $20,000 never arrived. The developer then paid another $62,000 in March 2024 after Shi said he needed money to secure the goods, and both parties agreed this would be used as credits at the company's stores. The developer had been working with Stone Appliance Ltd for a few years, and so he had no reason to doubt the company's reliability. "I was in a rush to get the appliances, so I paid him," To said. "But the goods still weren't delivered." In the following months, the developer used just over $20,000 worth of credits, leaving about $42,000 unused. Despite contacting Stone Appliance Ltd many times to get an update on the delivery time for appliances that were ordered in 2021, To felt the supplier kept stalling him. To finally got a reference number from Stone Appliances Ltd and paid $19,300 to the company's supplier to secure the goods. Businessman Sean Pan claimed the owner of Stone Appliances Ltd owed him $40,000. Pan has an office next to Stone Appliances Ltd' store in East Tāmaki. Shi allegedly borrowed $50,000 from Pan in November last year, stating that he needed help to pay a deposit for a new house he was buying. Being neighbours for a few years and having purchased appliances from the kitchen appliance supplier before, Pan trusted Shi. "When he came to borrow money, he said that he had enough funds to pay me back, but he just didn't have enough cash flow at the time," Pan said. "I thought that, first, we are neighbours and, second, he has two stores, so he wouldn't default on such an amount." An indebtedness note signed by both men said the money would be paid back within a month. However, Pan only received $10,000 in mid-January after numerous phone calls to Shi. The rest of the loan had not been paid back despite further engagements in person and via phone calls and messages with Shi, Pan said. He filed a complaint with police but was told officers could not act because there was not enough evidence to investigate at the time. Police confirmed to RNZ that they had received a complaint. "The complainant was advised at the time the report as it stood was a civil matter," a police spokesperson said. "Police provided the complainant with advice around undertaking civil proceedings to recoup debts." Shi's wife, Karen Lo, director of Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd, said the company was "reviewing the situation carefully and seeking legal advice". "Due to the complexity of the sensitive legal and family matters involved, we apologise that we are unable to answer all of your questions in detail at this time," Lo told RNZ. Carlos Cheung, National MP for Mt Roskill Photo: RNZ / Blessen Tom Carlos Cheung, National MP for Mt Roskill, held a meeting with several customers seeking refunds from Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd on 16 June. Cheung encouraged people to take the matter to the police and see what could be done. "Every single [alleged] victim needs to report to the police and create a police case first," Cheung said. "No matter the police accept or reject their cases, they need to create a case [file]." Vanessa Horne, general manager of competition, fair trading and credit at the Commerce Commission, said it had received an enquiry about Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd in addition to a separate one about Stone Appliance Ltd. "Any behaviour or marketing that misleads consumers is of concern to the commission and could be a breach of the Fair Trading Act," Horne said. "All traders must ensure any representations made regarding delivery timeframes and availability of product are accurate." Consumers were also covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act, Horne said. "If a delivery is faulty, damaged or not delivered within a reasonable time, consumers can pursue remedies under the Consumer Guarantees Act , such as repair, replacement or refund." If a guarantee had not been met, consumers generally had the right to insist that a seller or services provider rectified it, Horne said. Horne said the commission's role was to enforce the Fair Trading Act, and it could act if a business misled consumers about their rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act, and people were encouraged to report a concern . Abby Damen, communications and campaigns adviser at Consumer New Zealand, said accepting payment from buyers without intending to supply a good or service was a breach of contract and breached provisions of the Fair Trading Act. "If you paid via credit card, call your bank to see if you're able to get a chargeback to your card," Damen said. "If you can't make contact with the trader, you can take the company to the Disputes Tribunal."
