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RNZ News
3 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Will Working for Families changes leave people worse off?
Fleur Howard, chief executive of FinCap, says some families could be left without enough money week to week. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King An organisation representing financial mentors around the country is worried that proposed changes to the Working for Families scheme could leave some families worse off. As part of the Budget, the government said it would look at options to help avoid the issue of Working for Families debt. In the 2022 year, only 24 percent of households receiving weekly or fortnightly Working for Families payments and who were squared up by IRD at the end of the tax year had received the right amount of money. People who earned more than expected can end up with an overpayment debt that that they struggle to pay back . There is almost $300 million owed in Working for Families debt . A discussion document, on which submissions were sought, said the government's current thinking was that a quarterly assessment of Working for Families eligibility could strike the right balance between responsiveness, certainty and recipient effort. This would adjust what people were paid much more frequently. But Fleur Howard, chief executive of FinCap, said in a submission in response that she was worried that some families could be left without enough money. A shorter quarterly assessment period would be an improvement, she said, but it needed to be refined. "Aspects of the proposed design appear to suit some whānau situations better than others. We are concerned that in its current state, this design would have a disproportionally negative impact on those who are already experiencing financial instability due to more fluctuations in payment amount." She said FinCap's internal data showed most financial mentor clients had a weekly budget deficit even after they had received help. "More often than not, this deficit is due to whānau trying to pay for essentials, and commonly going into debt to do so. "This, among other markers, points to the fact that government support is not currently adequate to cover living expenses. We have concerns that some of the proposed changes would exacerbate income inadequacy in certain scenarios, particularly for whānau who need that money week to week." She said an example used in the discussion document, outlining a situation where a woman on the sole parent benefit went into additional work for a short period of time, highlighted a potentially unacceptable outcome. In that case, the woman's Working for Families credits would be reduced by $130 a week for the quarter after her temporary work, even though she was no longer in work, because the calculation was based on the higher income from the previous quarter. "We can see that the 'lagged income' mechanism makes sense from the perspective of achieving accuracy, however the potential for a decreased payment below what a whānau is entitled to poses real risk for wellbeing and social participation. "There is also a real concern over the dynamic whereby a quarterly period of higher income followed by a quarterly period of low income would see increased hardship within the low-income period, due to those payments reflecting the past higher income. "While this could be squared up during the end of year process, our data tells us that most whānau living week to week need that money as part of their weekly payments." Howard said mentors were also concerned something similar could happen if someone lost a job and went on the benefit, because their reduced income would not show up in the Working for Families calculation for another quarter. "Whānau need every cent they are entitled to in a timely manner when events such as job loss occur." A solution could be for the quarterly assessment period to look forward, rather than backwards, she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Far North Mayor Moko Tepania undecided on future as Parliament calls grow
Far North Mayor Moko Tepania has yet to decide whether he will seek a second term. Photo: Peter de Graaf A high-profile Northland mayor has yet to decide if he'll seek a second term, with multiple political parties trying to convince him to run for Parliament instead. Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said he would make the call about seeking re-election in the next few weeks after talking it over with whānau. Tepania confirmed he'd also been shoulder-tapped by a number of parties about entering national politics - but said he wasn't considering a tilt at Parliament "at this point". Tepania was just 31 when he was elected Northland's youngest mayor in 2022. He was also the Far North's first Māori mayor. The Kaikohe-based te reo teacher, who entered local politics as a councillor in 2019, said he was still considering whether to contest the mayoralty for a second time. "It's such a big decision, so it's not one I want to take lightly ... and it's not one that I can make on my own, because if I run again, and I get it, it's not just me that's going to be carrying the responsibilities of being there, but it's also my whānau by extension. So it's something that we are still giving careful consideration to." Tepania said he decided to run for mayor in 2022 around the same time of year, Matariki and Puanga. "It's a really good time to plan ahead, so I'm looking forward to making a decision in the next couple of weeks. If that decision is yes, Far Northerners are going to have me 110 percent for not only the campaign but, if successful, as mayor for the next three years." Asked if he was considering a run at Parliament, Tepania said he would do it only if he was in "a position of power to see transformative change for the people of the Far North". "Yes, I've been shoulder-tapped by a number of parties, but I wouldn't be looking to go to Wellington at this point. I wouldn't close any doors, of course. But for me, this decision is about the people of the Far North and whether or not I will run to be the mayor again." Far North Mayor Moko Tepania celebrates councillors' unanimous decision to retain the district's Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf One thing Tepania didn't have to mull over was his support for Māori wards. He was already campaigning for retention of the district's four-seat Ngā Tai o Tokerau ward, with its future to be decided in a government-mandated referendum held alongside the local elections in October. While Māori wards had failed to win majority support in past polls - including in the Far North in 2015 - he believed this time would be different, because during the past three years Far Northerners had seen the "incredibly positive benefits" for council decision-making and communities. Tepania said it was "really unfortunate" that only the Māori ward was subject to a binding poll, and none of the council's 16 other wards or community board subdivisions. Nominations for the upcoming local elections opened on 4 July and a list of candidates confirmed so far had been expected on 7 July. However, the Far North District Council said publication had been delayed because Election Services had to check the candidates' eligibility first. In 2022, veteran councillor Ann Court led the race to be Far North mayor in the initial election-night count, but Tepania pulled ahead as special votes were counted. The final result put Tepania on 7805 votes to Court's 7362. Court served as deputy mayor when both Wayne Brown and John Carter were mayors. She told RNZ she would not contest the mayoralty but would seek re-election as a councillor. Former Horowhenua Mayor Michael Feyen, who now lives in the Far North, has previously stated he wanted to put his hat in the ring. Feyen confirmed to RNZ he would stand for the council but had yet to decide on the mayoralty. He has been a city councillor in Palmerston North and was a candidate for the New Zealand Loyal Party in the 2023 general election. Northland has two other mayoral contests to look forward to, at least one of which will see a changing of the guard. In the Kaipara District, Mayor Craig Jepson said he would seek re-election only as a councillor representing his home town of Mangawhai. Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson (left) is seeking only a council seat at the upcoming election, and urging his supporters to back deputy Jonathan Larsen for the mayoralty. Photo: LDR / Susan Botting He called on his supporters to back deputy mayor Jonathan Larsen as his successor. Jepson made national headlines early in his term by removing karakia from council meetings. His council was also the first in the country to abolish its Māori ward following a law change in 2024. High-profile iwi and business leader Snow Tane has also put his hand up for the Kaipara mayoralty. Te Roroa Development Group general manager Snow Tane has put his hand up to be Kaipara's next mayor. Photo: Peter de Graaf/RNZ Currently general manager of Dargaville-based Te Roroa Development Group, Tane's previous career was in supermarket management. In the Whangārei District, sitting mayor Vince Cocurullo confirmed to RNZ he would seek another three-year term. Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo is seeking a second term at the helm of Northland's most populous district. Photo: NZME / Michael Cunningham First-term councillor Marie Olsen has also stated she would contest the mayoralty. Earlier this year a Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll found Tepania was the most popular mayor in New Zealand and Jepson the third most popular, despite their diametrically opposing positions. However, the poll had a large margin of error due to the small sample sizes. Tepania had a 39 percent approval rating, with an almost 5 percent margin of error, while Jepson had a 35 percent approval rating with an almost 10 percent margin of error. Nominations for the mayoralty, council and community boards close at noon on 1 August. Candidates will be announced on 8 August. Voting in the postal ballot will take place between 9 September and 11 October, when preliminary results will be announced. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
30-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
She's moved 14 times since toxic flooding forced her out – now she has a place to call home
After more than two years of uncertainty and constant upheaval, Lucky Hawkins finally has a permanent home in Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa's Te Rauā residential development. Photo: LDR / Linda Hall A Wairoa wahine forced out of her home by Cyclone Gabrielle's toxic aftermath has finally found somewhere she can call home. Lucky Hawkins moved 14 times in two years between short-term rentals, Airbnbs, whānau homes and even beaches after floodwater mixed with chemicals from the business next door swept through her property and made it unliveable in 2023. Last year, desperate for stability, she and her partner bought a house bus. Even that was battered by storms and setbacks. The past week has brought tears of joy and disbelief for Hawkins after moving into a permanent home in Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa's Te Rauā residential development. "After more than two years of uncertainty, constant upheaval, and surviving with only the barest of necessities, we now have something we haven't had in a very long time, a home. "A warm, safe, stable whare," Hawkins said. The residential development consists of 43 homes which are used as affordable rentals. Occupants face a robust selection process to prove hardship, reliability and the ability to pay their bills. Nine of the homes are now occupied. Hawkins says she can't help but feel guilty. "There are so many people in similar situations to mine. People living in sheds. I feel guilty that people are hearing my story. "I know what it feels like to have no place to belong, everything starts to shift. Your footing feels unsure. For us, the first thing to go was our health, physically, mentally, and emotionally. "But now, everything has changed. We're home. And because we have this foundation, we can look forward. We can rest, heal, rebuild and dream again. "For me, it means picking up where I left off, back in Wairoa, continuing the journey I began years ago. From night shifts at Affco to full-time study." On the morning of the cyclone, she remembered thinking about 8am that, after all the hype, nothing had happened. "My mum, who is profoundly deaf, was living with me at the time. I was writing her a note to say, 'see I told you nothing would happen,' when suddenly I saw all this water coming down the street. "The water went through our house. We managed to save a few things, but the reason we had to leave was because we lived next door to a panel beaters and toxic chemicals washed through our home and it wasn't safe to stay." Hawkins said education had changed her life. "After working at Affco for three years, I decided I needed to do something. I did okay at school, so I started studying during the day and worked at night." She has completed 12 qualifications "right here in Wairoa" and is now in the final stage of her Doctorate in Professional Practice, focused on how education can transform individuals and communities. Her first paid job was teaching intensive literacy and numeracy in prisons. She has just begun writing a children's book, which she hopes will become a series. "We are not just thankful to be back in Wairoa, we are transformed by the gift of returning. "We carry our gratitude in everything we do next." LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
29-06-2025
- RNZ News
Whānau of missing 17-year-old Whetu Bennett 'distraught'
Whetu Bennett at age 14, ready to attend her school ball. The 17-year-old went missing in Auckland six days ago. Photo: Supplied / Police The sister of a missing Waikato 17-year-old says it's out-of-character for Whetu Bennett to run away without keeping in contact with whānau. Janet Jones said she is distraught at her "baby sister's" disappearance from outside an Auckland mall at midday last Tuesday. Whetu grew up in Te Awamutu and had been living with her mother in Morrinsville before moving to Auckland three weeks ago with her 28-year-old boyfriend. Speaking to RNZ from Auckland on Sunday, where the family is gathering to search for Whetu, Jones said the couple had been in a relationship for more than two years. "They were going to start a life up here and they were both looking for work. Their aim was to move up here, get a home and get a job and start a life together." She said the pair were living together in Kelston but on the day Whetu went missing they did not go home together from LynnMall where they'd been shopping. "He's [Whetu's boyfriend] told me... they went out in the morning and around lunchtime they had an argument outside of the mall so he said he has gotten on the bus to go home to take the stuff home and Whetu went a separate way to what he went to, and that was the last time he seen her is when he got on the bus and she walked in a different direction." Whetu's phone broke recently, Jones said, and before she vanished she'd been using her partner's phone to contact whānau. "He's just as distraught as we are. He's been really assistant with me in trying to locate [her]. He's been out there every day walking around the New Lynn mall, catching buses, looking down streets, looking at parks, all of that. "Yesterday he and his son were out there going to the mall, asking if police had been in contact with them for the [CCTV] footage and if they've seen Whetu come back around and showing photos and stuff to shops." Jones said Whetu had been a stepmother to her partner's 7-year-old son, who was staying with his mother when Whetu disappeared. The day after the argument Whetu's partner contacted the teen's mother in Morrinsville to inform her that her daughter was missing. Police were alerted on Wednesday and Jones was contacted by her mother on Thursday morning, she said. Jones said Whetu ran away once to a friend's house for three days but kept in constant contact with whānau and this disappearance was out-of-character. She was concerned that Whetu was reportedly "distressed" at the time she was last seen. At the time Whetu was wearing a beige top, a black dress and sunglasses. Jones understood it was a 30-minute walk home for Whetu from the mall and the teenager also had access to money. "I had asked him [Whetu's partner] if he could check the bank account to see if the money's been used but he can't check it so I said maybe we could pass that onto the police to see if she used her account." Whānau travelled to Auckland to begin their own search and were hopeful of finding Whetu with another sibling in South Auckland, she said. Jones, 37, was the eldest of 10 children and Whetu was number eight - the youngest daughter - and Jones said she helped to raise her. "We're going to have a meeting - a hui - to see what we can do to go forward, as we don't know what to do." She described Whetu as a very creative person. "She was just really bubbly. She loved babies, she loved all her nieces and nephews. She just loved being around family. "We come from a family of Christians so they've all been praying for us and praying for Whetu to come home safe, but because we're on day six now they're getting so worried that they're just coming up to Auckland now because it's been too long." Jones told police about a possible sighting inside the mall at 12.38pm that she was alerted to on social media, but police said Sunday morning there was no update in the case. A spokesperson said police reviewing CCTV footage was one avenue of enquiry. They have appealed for anyone who knows Whetu's whereabouts to contact police on 105.
RNZ News
26-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Friends and colleagues remember Takutai Tarsh Kemp
Takutai Tarsh Kemp died on Thursday morning, aged 50. Photo: Supplied/ Te Pāti Māori Friends and colleagues of Takutai Tarsh Kemp say she was a "sister" and "buddy" who has left behind a "remarkable" legacy. Kemp, Te Pāti Māori MP for Tāmaki Makaurau, died in the early hours of Thursday morning aged 50. Friend and Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere urged Kemp to stand for Parliament. He said Kemp began to feel run down toward the end of her 2023 campaign, but wanted a chance to represent her people. Tamihere, at the Hoani Waititi Marae in West Auckland, told Morning Report Kemp was a big part of a "tight knit" community. "I was always in admiration of her work, and getting our international hip hop artists to even beat the best in the US," an emotional Tamihere said. "She had a remarkable journey of service to our youth communities in the South of the Auckland area. "And then over the pandemic we rested shoulder-to-shoulder for three long years - when others were in lockdown we had to get out there and do business." Tamihere said Kemp was a sister to him, "like Te Pāti Māori is a whānau". He said she was diagnosed last year with "serious kidney problems". "She battled remarkably and none of us - even her whānau - knew of the possibility of her passing away under dialysis. Her legacy is absolute an commitment to our people regardless of what other people said, she just believed." Another friend and colleague of Kemp's said the two "had a lot of laughs" and had "done a lot of crazy things" over the years, and her death has come as a shock. Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake said he had known Kemp since she was a high schooler at Rosehill College, and the two worked side-by-side for much of their careers. Kake said she was his "buddy" when they served on the district health board and offered him support when they both took the top jobs at Manurewa and Papakura maraes. "She was also really good in terms of supporting Pae Tiaki, which is over 20 years old [and] is a group that serves our community and do community dinners and Christmas lunches every year, and a whole lot of activities." Manurewa Marae is a crucial part of the wider Auckland marae network, which Kake said Kemp laid the foundation for. "She was instrumental in getting the Tāmaki Herenga Waka collective of marae off the ground. She's a key advocate for that... marae not being competitive against each other, but just all working together." Kake said she took hip hop in New Zealand "to the world" and led groups onto an international stage, culminating in her being appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2021, for services to street dance and youth. Wreaths on the House seat of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith As Kemp was an electorate MP, her death means a by-election will need to be held. There were 44,095 registered voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate. The Speaker of the House will publish a notice of vacancy in the New Zealand Gazette notifying the House of the vacancy. The prime minister will announce the date of the by-election. After the notice has been published in the Gazette , the governor-general will issue a writ within 21 days, instructing the chief electoral officer to conduct a by-election. Labour MP Peeni Henare, who narrowly lost to Kemp in 2023, said it was too soon to give any thought to that, referencing a Māori saying that "the body is still warm". Labour's Māori caucus co-chair Willie Jackson said the party would not be talking about a by-election at all, until the appropriate time. "This is a time to grieve for Tarsh, for Te Pāti Māori, and for our people of South Auckland. We just want to remember her and pay the appropriate tributes." There were currently 123 seats in Parliament, an overhang of three due to Te Pāti Māori picking up two more seats than it would otherwise have from its share of the party vote, and National picking up one extra due to the Port Waikato by-election. If Henare were to re-contest the seat and win, Labour would bring in an extra MP from the party list, as the number of list MPs is calculated prior to the general election. On Friday morning Kemp will be formally welcomed onto Hoani Waititi Marae, where she will lie for one night. Then on Saturday she will return home, to Opaea Marae in Taihape, before being laid to rest on Tuesday. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
