The world’s richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (pictured), says Tuesday was “the best day ever” after he flew into space in his rocket and capsule. The venture has reinforced his commitment to tackling the climate crisis, and using New Shepard (his rocket) as a stepping stone towards colonising space for the benefit of Earth. Read more
A new study combining one week’s worth of wastewater testing with census data has shown methamphetamine use is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage. It’s also revealed cocaine and ecstasy use is associated with socioeconomic advantage. In a study published today in the New Zealand Medical Journal based on testing in Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and Read more
The G7 leaders’ vaccine pledge – to fund one billion COVID vaccines falls “far short” of what is needed. It represents a “moral failure”, Britain’s former Prime Minister Gordon Brown says. His comments were made on Sunday when he was delivering the Methodist Justice Lecture online. “The G7 summit was one venue where, with the Read more
Child Poverty Action Group welcomes the income support increases announced today by the Government, saying the rises will be a good step towards income adequacy for many children in need. “The changes today are useful if insufficient. Our modelling shows the changes fall short of liveable incomes, but these increases should still be high enough Read more
You may have heard an increasing number of child poverty experts and frontline support services calling on the Government to increase the amount of income support paid to effectively address poverty in New Zealand. What you may not have heard about is the recent UMR poll in February showing seven in 10 New Zealanders support Read more
Housing, access to COVID vaccination, income and well being, are some of the major concerns church leaders raised recently at a church and government meeting. As reported recently by CathNews, church leaders met, March 11, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni and Housing Minister Megan Woods to discuss issues of mutual Read more
A newly-released report says a reality of the COVID pandemic’s effect can be seen in soaring poverty rates throughout New Zealand. Rising unemployment and corresponding increases in people relying on government income support is concerning. Then there’s food insecurity, housing insecurity, increasing child poverty, increasing drug use and increasing debt levels. All these issues are Read more
Jacinda Ardern says she disagrees with the accusation of “unjustifiably slow” welfare reform made by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). CPAG’s criticism of the Government’s response comes after more than 60 charities urged them to increase welfare payments in the lead-up to Christmas, which Ardern ruled out. Progress on welfare reform is being made, Read more
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has rejected a plea from 59 organizations to lift the level of welfare payments before Christmas. Trade unions, charities and poverty action groups were among those asking the government to address mass unemployment and poverty. Working through umbrella group ActionStation Aotearoa [New Zealand], the groups published an open letter, saying the Read more
Thousands of the 27,000 New Zealanders who ceased receiving the 12-week COVID-19 Income Relief Payments (CIRP) have not returned paid work. The Salvation Army says although the application period for CIRP ended last week, only one in ten people who have finished their CIRP are in work. Some people have been able to transition onto Read more