Latest news with #McCombe
NZ Herald
26-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Budget 2025: What Bay of Plenty household budgeting service managers think
Also announced were a tax incentive for businesses forecast to cost $6.6 billion, longer-lasting prescriptions and tweaks to Working for Families tax credits. Bay Financial Mentors general manager Shirley McCombe told the Bay Plenty Times the Budget unfortunately 'does little" to significantly improve the lives of the people her team work alongside. McCombe said she strongly believed more young people should be encouraged to join the KiwiSaver scheme, particularly those just entering the workforce. 'However, reducing government contributions while increasing personal and employer contributions is not the way to achieve this.' She said it shifted the financial burden to individuals, cutting into their income when many were already struggling. 'Having said that, I'm pleased 16-and 17-year-olds will now be eligible for [KiwiSaver] government and employer contributions. These young investors have the greatest advantage — time — and when it comes to investing, time is gold." She said the decision to reform pay equity initiatives was 'incredibly disappointing'. 'This is yet another setback in the fight to close the gender pay gap and address the disparity in retirement savings for women. She did not oppose income-testing tax initiatives such as Best Start, but believed setting the family income threshold at $97,000 was 'unreasonably low'. 'Many families earning this amount are already struggling under current economic conditions.' McCombe said introducing parental-assistance means testing in July 2027 for 18- and 19-year-olds seeking the Jobseeker Support and Emergency Benefit presented 'serious' challenges. 'Particularly in cases where relationships with parents have broken down. This approach risks leaving some young people without the financial support they need.' She said expanding access to 12-month prescriptions for chronic medications could help lower costs for many patients by reducing doctor visits and dispensing fees. However, McCombe said this approach may also lead to decreased medical oversight. Rotorua Budget Advisory Services manager Pakanui Tuhura said it was difficult to say whether the Budget's changes would make a significant difference for clients, as their circumstances and needs ranged widely. What Tuhura could say was that the number of people seeking help steadily increased each year, and included working people. A lot more people in financial difficulty were applying to withdraw their KiwiSaver contributions on hardship grounds. 'Because of the cost-of-living increases and inflation, some people are also finding it difficult to keep contributing to the scheme, which was supposed to be for retirement savings and future expenses.' He said last year the service assisted about 900 households. 'Most of our clients are aged between 18 years and 45 years, typically most of our clients are women.' Regarding benefit eligibility changes for young jobseekers, he said most of the service's younger clients were living independently from their parents. 'There are bits and pieces in this Budget that will help some of our clients such as fewer prescription charges, but again, it depends on people's financial situations and household make-up. 'This is a top-level Budget, whereas we are working with clients at a grass-roots level. I think it's going to be a few months before we see how the impacts of this Budget shapes up.' Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Pos t who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
BBC News
05-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Stamps capture Manx photographer's five-decade career
A new stamp set celebrates five decades of the career of a Manx photographer who captured images documenting aspects of World War Two as well as post-war the Lens of Leonard McCombe features the photojournalist's work from his early days on the island, wartime images and later magazine work in the United on Thursday's 80th anniversary of VE Day, the set coincides with an exhibition at the House of Manannan focusing on his war McCombe, who helped to develop the set, said his father's work had captured the "images, emotions and history of a world recovering from World War Two". The eight images featured include a fisherman on a Manx vessel near the Calf of Man, a female ferry pilot of the Air Transport Auxiliary, who transported aircraft from the factory to the aerodrome during the conflict, and a Texan cowboy rounding up spring-born calves. Born on the island in 1923 and growing up in Port Erin, McCombe took up photography at the age of 14, with his early work including capturing images of those held at the island's only all-female internment camp in moving to England, he went on to cover the allied advance during World War Two before moving to the United States and capturing American cowboys and the Navajo Nation. His portfolio of work also includes images of Winston Churchill and several US Presidents, as well as the Apollo moon launch. The Isle of Man Post Office's general manager for stamps and coins Maxine Cannon said many of the images used for the stamp issue had "never been seen or published since the rolls of film were developed several decades ago".That was because in his later years McCombe, who died in 2015, had spent most of his time farming, meaning his "treasure trove of scrapbooks, writings, negatives, prints and books lay forgotten in his study", she added. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
BBC News
16-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Omagh bombing: Lack of Dublin talks putting families 'on the backburner'
A man whose wife was killed in the 1998 Omagh bombing has said families feel "put on the backburner" following an agreement by the Irish government to co-operate with an inquiry into the McCombe, whose wife Ann was one of those who died, said families had "no meetings with the Republic in over two years". The Irish government announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday which allows the inquiry to access material it holds. However families have said there has been a lack of consultation, with a lawyer who represents many of them saying they have requested a formal meeting with the Irish government. The DUP leader Gavin Robinson described the agreement as a "slap in the face" and accused the Irish government of "obfuscating their responsibility". Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's John Finucane said the move by the Irish government is an "advancement from where we were" but said families must be people, including a woman expecting twins, died in the 1998 Real IRA attack, which was carried out from the Irish Republic. 'Very degrading' Mr McCombe told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today that families were glad the Irish government had "come this far" but that it will not do any good "unless they support the inquiry team in all the information that they require". "We will definitely need to have witnesses from An Garda Síochána and whatever security agencies are in the Republic of Ireland," he said. He added there was still a lot of questions to be asked, and that he, and others have had very little contact with the Irish government in the last decade. "So many taoiseachs (Irish prime ministers), have promised us over the years that Omagh will get to the truth, but we aren't having any truth and it's very degrading."We have been put on the backburner and they are talking among themselves." John Fox, a lawyer who represents 14 of the bereaved families and 10 survivors including Mr McCombe, said the move from the Irish government is "long-awaited" but it is still unclear how this will work in practice."The agreement makes clear this is not legally binding for various reasons and complexities, given that you are dealing with two jurisdictions," he told North West Fox said none of his clients were consulted on the drafting of this engagement, but have now formally requested a meeting with the Irish said there was "a huge opportunity missed" regarding looking at the actions of Irish state agencies as the government are not permitting that "at this stage". DUP leader says Omagh families deserve more The DUP leader Gavin Robinson told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme on Wednesday that he thinks the agreement is "shameful, in that it masquerades as co-operation". He said the MoU only has the scope to "partially answer" questions that the Irish government has in terms of its role in the bombing. Robinson accused the Irish government of "obfuscating their responsibility". "This is a gaslighting exercise of the victims of Omagh."There is nothing within the MoU that looks at what steps the Irish authorities could have taken to prevent the atrocity."Families deserve much more from the Irish government, who have a duty to look at their own actions, not assist in answering questions around the actions of the UK state."He described this as "a slap in the face".
