Latest news with #TakutaiTarshKemp
Scoop
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Budget Must Address Spiralling Rangatahi Homelessness
Press Release – Te Pati Maori Te Pāti Māori is urging the Government to address the growing Rangatahi Homelessness problem in Auckland after data shows a 53% increase in homelessness in the last quarter. 'The scale of this crisis is shameful. The Government cannot continue to distance itself from the consequences of its decisions while our babies sleep on the streets, in cars, and in parks around Auckland,' said Tāmaki Makaurau MP, Takutai Tarsh Kemp. 'This Government must take responsibility for the impact of its reckless decision-making, which has directly led to rangatahi sleeping rough on the streets.' In the 2024 Budget, the Government cut $40 million from Māori housing providers and slashed $20 million from rangatahi transitional housing. In August, it made changes to emergency housing eligibility criteria, making it harder for rangatahi to access housing. 'Every dollar cut from kaupapa Māori services and from the lives of our most vulnerable is a deliberate act that undermines our communities' ability to lead, heal, and build their futures. 'The Government is not solving the housing crisis. They are manipulating the numbers to make it appear as though they're taking serious action—when in fact, they're causing real harm.' Kemp is urging the Minister of Housing to ensure tomorrow's Budget includes tangible action to get rangatahi off the streets. 'There are incredible services in my electorate, like Mā Te Huruhuru, doing impressive mahi. But their ability to deliver for the growing need is capped. 'Our babies need tomorrow's Budget to deliver resources for organisations to lead and continue their mahi to support our communities—to ensure our babies have a roof over their heads,' she said.
Scoop
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Budget Must Address Spiralling Rangatahi Homelessness
Wednesday, 21 May 2025, 3:06 pm Press Release: Te Pati Maori Te Pāti Māori is urging the Government to address the growing Rangatahi Homelessness problem in Auckland after data shows a 53% increase in homelessness in the last quarter. 'The scale of this crisis is shameful. The Government cannot continue to distance itself from the consequences of its decisions while our babies sleep on the streets, in cars, and in parks around Auckland,' said Tāmaki Makaurau MP, Takutai Tarsh Kemp. 'This Government must take responsibility for the impact of its reckless decision-making, which has directly led to rangatahi sleeping rough on the streets.' In the 2024 Budget, the Government cut $40 million from Māori housing providers and slashed $20 million from rangatahi transitional housing. In August, it made changes to emergency housing eligibility criteria, making it harder for rangatahi to access housing. 'Every dollar cut from kaupapa Māori services and from the lives of our most vulnerable is a deliberate act that undermines our communities' ability to lead, heal, and build their futures. 'The Government is not solving the housing crisis. They are manipulating the numbers to make it appear as though they're taking serious action—when in fact, they're causing real harm.' Kemp is urging the Minister of Housing to ensure tomorrow's Budget includes tangible action to get rangatahi off the streets. 'There are incredible services in my electorate, like Mā Te Huruhuru, doing impressive mahi. But their ability to deliver for the growing need is capped. 'Our babies need tomorrow's Budget to deliver resources for organisations to lead and continue their mahi to support our communities—to ensure our babies have a roof over their heads,' she said. © Scoop Media
Scoop
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
‘Govt's Pay Bill Entrenches Discrimination Against Women'
Press Release – Te Pati Maori The Governments Equal Pay Amendment Bill cancels 33 live claims under urgency, bans back pay, delays fair pay for years, and blocks new claims for a decade all while giving bosses unchecked power to shut down claims without reason. Te Pāti Māori stands in staunch and emotional opposition to the Government's so-called Equal Pay Amendment Bill, calling it a calculated attack on working women and a cruel betrayal of the generations who have fought for pay equity in Aotearoa. 'This bill doesn't just undermine equal pay — it completely erases it,' said MP for Tāmaki-Makaurau and Workers Rights Spokesperson, Takutai Tarsh Kemp. 'It will make it impossible for people in female-dominated professions to be paid fairly. It locks in gender discrimination, and it will hit wāhine Māori, Pacific, Asian, and migrant women the hardest. This is not reform — this is repression.' The Government's Equal Pay Amendment Bill cancels 33 live claims under urgency, bans back pay, delays fair pay for years, and blocks new claims for a decade — all while giving bosses unchecked power to shut down claims without reason. 'This Government can afford to give $3 billion in tax breaks to landlords, and $13 billion to the military, but this comes at the expense of paying our wāhine fairly,' said Kemp. 'I have witnessed this first hand as a Māori woman who put my heart, sweat, blood, and tears into my mahi while a male equivalent was paid more than ten thousand dollars more. I was undervalued, demoralised and taken advantage of.' 'Māori women are paid 80 cents to every dollar a Pākehā man earns. These aren't just numbers. This is the intergenerational impact of discrimination that the ACT Party and this government are hellbent on entrenching. 'Te Pāti Māori will not be supporting this bill. We stand by wāhine. We stand by justice. And we will fight this every step of the way,' said Kemp.
Scoop
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
‘Govt's Pay Bill Entrenches Discrimination Against Women'
Te Pāti Māori stands in staunch and emotional opposition to the Government's so-called Equal Pay Amendment Bill, calling it a calculated attack on working women and a cruel betrayal of the generations who have fought for pay equity in Aotearoa. 'This bill doesn't just undermine equal pay — it completely erases it,' said MP for Tāmaki-Makaurau and Workers Rights Spokesperson, Takutai Tarsh Kemp. 'It will make it impossible for people in female-dominated professions to be paid fairly. It locks in gender discrimination, and it will hit wāhine Māori, Pacific, Asian, and migrant women the hardest. This is not reform — this is repression.' The Government's Equal Pay Amendment Bill cancels 33 live claims under urgency, bans back pay, delays fair pay for years, and blocks new claims for a decade — all while giving bosses unchecked power to shut down claims without reason. 'This Government can afford to give $3 billion in tax breaks to landlords, and $13 billion to the military, but this comes at the expense of paying our wāhine fairly,' said Kemp. 'I have witnessed this first hand as a Māori woman who put my heart, sweat, blood, and tears into my mahi while a male equivalent was paid more than ten thousand dollars more. I was undervalued, demoralised and taken advantage of.' 'Māori women are paid 80 cents to every dollar a Pākehā man earns. These aren't just numbers. This is the intergenerational impact of discrimination that the ACT Party and this government are hellbent on entrenching. 'Te Pāti Māori will not be supporting this bill. We stand by wāhine. We stand by justice. And we will fight this every step of the way,' said Kemp.
