Budgeting and Family Support acknowledges the work that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her government have done to help whanau in need, especially during the disruptions of the Covid- 19 pandemic.

Under Ms Ardern’s leadership, government introduced a wage subsidy scheme that helped many whanau and businesses during COVID-19 disruptions. This helped lessen the impact of the pandemic on households and businesses. This decision was a needed intervention that we believe kept many whanau above the poverty line.

Adding to this, an increase to the minimum wage, policies to lift the wellbeing of children, actions around tenancy protections and healthy homes initiatives and moving to make Buy Now Pay Later lenders more accountable were the steps in the right direction.

Budgeting and Family Support would like to see further actions from the government around the cost-of-living crises, housing issues, support for low-income families and responsible lending.

Budgeting and Family Support Chief Executive, Lara Dolan says “Our data shows that numbers of whanau seeking food relief are still similar to the pandemic lockdown levels, which is not right. We know that this is because whanau and communities are struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis increase especially because of the price increases for vegetables and fruits, and other necessities are disproportional to wage increases”.

We are urging government to address this issue and consider removing GST for necessity items such as fresh produce and milk.

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