Source: Radio New Zealand
Food is the one thing people can cut back on when the car runs low on fuel, say aid agencies. AFP / ROBERT MICHAEL
The government’s support package for those struggling with the cost of fuel is simply not enough, an advocate for beneficiaries says, warning it could push people towards crime.
Almost 150,000 families with children will receive an extra $50 a week to help ease the pain from soaring petrol prices.
Speaking at a media conference earlier today, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the relief would come through a boost to the in-work tax credit – part of the Working for Families scheme – and it will kick in from April.
Another 14,000 families will qualify for a part payment as part of the government’s “targeted assistance”.
The increase is temporary and will last a year or until the price of 91 octane petrol drops below $3 a litre for four consecutive weeks.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the package struck the right balance and it was a “hard reality that we cannot alleviate the pressure of rising fuel costs for everyone”.
There is nothing for beneficiaries, superannuitants and those without children in the package, which will cost up to $373 million if it runs the full 12 months and is funded through new spending earmarked for the government’s May budget.
Willis noted the 1 April annual increases would provide a boost to benefits and superannuation payments, saying benefit rates remained “structurally higher” after increases under the previous government.
“We will be increasing main benefit rates on the 1st of April so a couple with children receiving jobseeker support receive an increase of nearly $20 a week.”
But Auckland Action Against Poverty co-chair Agnes Magele said that $20 a week would make little difference to those struggling to make ends meet.
“It’s a clear message to the people that the government really don’t care about the beneficiaries,” she said. “That extra $20, how can that be some sort of relief when people are still faced with food prices going up, now petrol prices are going up… that’s not going to make any difference at all.”
She said the fuel costs were forcing people into tough choices to survive.
“The cost of living doesn’t suddenly disappear just because someone isn’t in paid work.
“We had young ones coming in last week, and I’m being real when I say this – they’re looking at robbing the petrol station. And that’s the kind of effect that it has on the people on the ground.
“Normally the bills they have to choose from is either their rent, or their power, and they’re essential needs …. when people have to make a choice to sacrifice one of those that means the government’s not doing what they’re supposed to be doing in order to see that the people are thriving.”
She said the $50 boost was welcome for those who could receive it, but it would not go very far and was “a band-aid solution”.
Those on the benefit and looking for work would also struggle to get to appointments for training and interviews if fuel costs continued to rise, she said.
‘They can’t afford both transport and food’
Bonnie Robinson from the Salvation Army told Checkpoint while it was good news for those families who get that assistance, there would still be a lot of families who are struggling already to meet the basics who will not be getting anything.
She said that definitely included families who relied on a benefit who were already struggling.
“Eighty-five percent of the families who come to our food banks for food support are on benefits. So they are already struggling, the petrol price increase is going to make that harder and we are already seeing just in the last week or two, an increase in the number of people coming to a food bank for the first time.
“The petrol prices have pushed them over from coping to not coping and then needing to come for food support because they can’t afford both transport and food.”
Robinson said there was growing pressure on food parcel services as more people sought them out.
“We’re still delivering about 40 percent more food assistance than we did pre-Covid, it hasn’t dropped back to pre-Covid situation.”
She said when it came to tight budgets, food was the only area where they had wriggle room to cut back.
“And sometimes it gets trimmed to the point where people don’t have enough to eat.”
Whangārei Care Centre budget advisor Dianne Harris said her clients had not yet noticed a significant difference in fuel costs, but were very aware that it was happening.
“This extra $50 will help them, because it hasn’t hit yet”.
She told Checkpoint that the rise in food prices and the general cost of living was more of a concern at he moment, and her clients were becoming far more conscious of their budget than they ever had before.
“They are having to find watch they are doing more, they are having to think seriously about how many times they decide to go to the supermarket or go out.”
She was also concerned that people would get used to the extra $50, only to have it snatched away after a year.
“That’s when the struggle might happen again.”
Harris said there was an increase in the number of people using Afterpay and wanting to access their KiwiSaver funds, but stressed that this would not solve the problem.
“If a person has a minus in their budget but they are not paying any of their debts… the minus is still going to be there.”
The Greens had offered over the weekend to support National to introduce additional supports, including making public transport free, and other relief.
The government has maintained that supports during the fuel crisis must not increase debt levels, particularly after ratings agency Fitch downgraded New Zealand’s outlook from stable to negative.
Hipkins dismissed the Greens’ proposal as a “wishlist”, but said he would not be doing the same until he could see how much solutions might cost and how they would be delivered.
Magele said that was not good enough.
“They need to step up a little bit more. I think that they’ve been a little bit weak and not pushing back,” she said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
