Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Budget needs immediate plan to end poverty

Many families, particularly Māori, regularly run out of food and the Government must end the supermarket-chain duopoly to alleviate the situation. Photo / Michael Craig

Opinion

OPINION:

It's not until you've experienced the fast fall into the hardship that you realise how tough some whānau are doing it. When the cupboards get thin on groceries because a roof over your head is first priority. When fuel is too expensive to take the tamariki to kura, or medications are too expensive and so the oranga of your whānau deteriorates.

Don't fool yourself that it can never happen to you; unexpected unemployment, a big client falls over, or the supermarket checkouts are replaced by self-service. Just like that, whānau are finding themselves on the brink of financial and social collapse.

Whānau move in to help distribute the expenses, leading to overcrowding. Some work two or more jobs to alleviate the blow. But this only leads to overcrowding, and again jeopardising health, education and wellbeing in order to financially survive.

Tomorrow, the Government announces its second Budget in this parliamentary term. It's easy to korero about all Labour promised and didn't deliver. Remind people of the empathy that was expressed at the beginning of this Government's tenure. The promises of transformation, the multitude of experts' recommendations, some partly adopted, most ignored.

Similarly, I could raise National's reference to "bottom feeders" and not wanting to address poverty at the cost of hardworking Kiwis whose wallets are stretched and the wealthy who just want to turn a blind eye and get on with it.

Covid was a harsh reminder of those who fared the best. The world's 10 richest men had fortunes doubling from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. For perspective, that's $15,000 per second.

Truth is, there are so many experiencing so much hardship in this country that we need to bloody get on with it and stop politicking at their expense. This year's Budget needs to be about providing immediate investment to implement a plan.

During the March 2022 quarter, 647,571 hardship assistance grants were paid to the value of $239 million. The largest hardship grant by dollar value in the history of this nation. The biggest contributors to that sum, are food and an emergency roof over people's heads.

And that's where this Budget needs to start.

Recent statistics show that a quarter of tamariki Māori live in households that frequently run out of food on a weekly basis. Photo / NZME

Address the growing hardship from the cost of living. The cost of living crisis is the single and biggest issue hitting whānau at the current time.

Recent statistics show that a quarter of tamariki Māori live in households that frequently run out of food on a weekly basis. And whilst food in some schools around the country is helping, what are we doing to empower whānau and equip them with their own ability to put kai on the table and in lunchboxes?

In a recent Reid Research poll, 75 per cent of Aotearoa agreed with our calls to remove GST from food. The critics have been arguing that it would be too hard to implement and once again turn a blind eye despite this solution benefiting everyone.

The second thing needed is for the Government to stop the duopoly at the checkout between the big two supermarket chains. We would resource and force the competition commission to break up monopolies, duopolies and oligarchs and their control over the cost at the checkout. Ensuring that our suppliers of fruit and veg don't get these losses passed on to create a more price equitable solution.

We also need to urgently address the housing needs of our nation. The current housing register as of March 2022, sits at 26,868, of which 51 per cent are Māori. This has grown by 21,000 since Labour took office in 2017 when a then-incumbent Prime Minister made it a priority to address poverty.

Thirty-four per cent of children live in unaffordable housing where more than 30 per cent of income is spent on rent - that's 29 per cent of Māori tamariki.

But always keep in mind that these solutions are most often better delivered by our own for our own. Devolving not just funds but also design. Surely after the Covid response, Māori have shown what can be achieved.

This Budget needs more than dollars. It needs to show that we have the capacity within the bureaucracy that is government to ensure the pain our whānau feel is no longer endured. With only 47 per cent of Māori students regularly attending school we have a government that is being transformative in all the wrong ways.

When we are well, we can learn. When we learn we can earn.

I will fight to ensure future Budgets deliver for Māori and honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. That Budgets progress us towards our mana motuhake and enable us to live our best lives.

• Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is co-leader of Te Pāti Māori.