NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Budget 2025
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Budget tighten-up axes jobs scheme

Simon Collins
By Simon Collins
Reporter·NZ Herald·
2 Jun, 2009 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hamish Loomans, 20, (L) - pictured with workmate Tony Milne, 18 - was helped by Enterprising Communities to get through the paperwork for his apprenticeship. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Hamish Loomans, 20, (L) - pictured with workmate Tony Milne, 18 - was helped by Enterprising Communities to get through the paperwork for his apprenticeship. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A subsidy scheme that has financed more than 200 projects to create local jobs around the country has been axed.

The Ministry of Social Development's Enterprising Communities scheme, budgeted at $10.5 million a year by the former Labour Government, was axed as part of a "reprioritisation" of the ministry's spending in last week's Budget.

All 80 current projects will keep their funding under existing contracts, but no further money will be approved.

The Government says it has to make tough decisions because of the economic climate, but the people who run the schemes are disappointed.

Otorohanga Mayor Dale Williams, who chairs the national Mayor's Taskforce for Jobs, said Otorohanga's apprentice support scheme was one of six local projects which mayors saw as models that could be set up nationally to promote youth employment, but all had only short-term funding from either the ministry's regional commissioners or Enterprising Communities.

"It's disappointing that it's being axed. It's been the catalyst for facilitating a whole lot of projects around the country that are very worthwhile," he said.

"The most important thing for the Mayors' Taskforce is who is going to pick up those projects and carry them on beyond the facilitation period."

Greenways Trust development co-ordinator Ian Guthrie said Enterprising Communities was "a massive leg-up" for his trust's venture into the firewood business to provide work for its disabled clients.

He said the trust would "persevere in one form or another" with the business but the firewood business was suffering in the recession.

Waikato River Trails chief executive Kelvin Hainsworth said his trust had several sponsors, including Mighty River Power and Taskforce Green, but depended on Enterprising Communities to pay for a construction supervisor and training for the Taskforce Green workers.

The trust has opened 30km of trails from Atiamuri to the Whakamaru Dam and around Arapuni village and aims to complete 100km in from Atiamuri to Horohoro.

It seems likely to find replacement funding, as it has had a visit from a Tourism Ministry official scouting possible routes for Prime Minister John Key's $50 million cycleways project.

But Maori Tourism Council chairman John Barrett said scrapping Enterprising Communities would bring a halt to his council's plans to develop tourism promotion projects in the council's 11 regions under a 2006 memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Social Development.

And Prison Fellowship director Basil Wakelin said the $50,000 a year from Enterprising Communities was vital for plans to set up a scheme for communities to mentor people released from jail.

The fellowship plans a national roadshow this year to encourage local churches to join the scheme, but Mr Wakelin said it needed money to train volunteers.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said the Government was having to make hard choices.

"The money that went into Enterprising Communities hasn't delivered the employment outcomes hoped for," she said.

* Enterprising Communities

An apprentice support scheme in Otorohanga which has helped that district to achieve zero unemployment of people under age 25 since November 2006 and a 75 per cent drop in youth crime.

A firewood business which employs intellectually disabled people through the Greenways Trust in Dargaville.

A series of biking and walking trails being built along the Waikato River.

Maori tourism promotion projects in Tauranga, Rotorua, Hawkes Bay and Wellington.

A national Prison Fellowship project to help local communities mentor ex-prisoners.

A trust at Maramarua south of Auckland which employs unemployed people growing native plants.HELPING HAND: Hamish Loomans, 20, (left) - pictured with workmate Tony Milne, 18 - is a dyslexic automotive apprentice at Excelsior Nissan in Otorohanga who was helped by Enterprising Communities to get through the paperwork for his apprenticeship.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'I'm the outcast': Niece speaks of how uncle's sexual assault made her the villain

18 May 09:00 PM
New Zealand|politics

Watch: PM tightlipped on borrowing blueprint to fund expenditure days out from Budget

18 May 08:21 PM
New ZealandUpdated

Joe Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

18 May 08:19 PM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'I'm the outcast': Niece speaks of how uncle's sexual assault made her the villain

'I'm the outcast': Niece speaks of how uncle's sexual assault made her the villain

18 May 09:00 PM

'I feel as if I’ve lost so much more from your actions than you did,' she told him.

Watch: PM tightlipped on borrowing blueprint to fund expenditure days out from Budget

Watch: PM tightlipped on borrowing blueprint to fund expenditure days out from Budget

18 May 08:21 PM
Joe Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

Joe Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer

18 May 08:19 PM
Proposed urgent care services and Te Kura enrolments increase | NZ Herald News Update

Proposed urgent care services and Te Kura enrolments increase | NZ Herald News Update

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP