It is one of several points the Commission made to Parliament's Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee.

The Parliamentary Committee is trying to reign in the excessive market power of the supermarket duopoly.

"The supermarket duopoly combined with the slow train wreck of the housing crisis has families scrambling to find enough money for food and other basics," says Peter Garrick, the Executive Secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland.

Garrick told the Committee that the slow train wreck has been allowed to happen under the unwatchful eyes of repeated governments of varying political colours.

Accompanying Garrick was Lorraine Elliott, the dioceses Vicar for Social Impact and Communication.

Speaking for the most vulnerable, Elliott reinforced one of the findings of the March 8 Commerce Commission's study showing major grocery retailers were earning $1m daily in excess profits.

Elliott said where food makes up a major part of the weekly budget families are being held hostage to unfair prices for food and other basics.

Favouring regulation as a way of control, Elliott said Maori and Pacifika communities are particularly vulnerable.

Supporting the Grocery Sector Covenants Amendment Bill, the Justice and Peace Commission wants to see the Bill strengthened in three areas -

• framing the prohibition on the anti-competitive covenants more broadly so that other forms of retail do not continue to suffer
• ensuring lease agreements that feature various types of rights of first refusal (ROFR) don't hinder the lease of the land to another supermarket or food distributor without significant penalty
• ensuring supermarkets can't unreasonably delay new developments by endlessly raising objections to the District Plan or the Resource Management Act.

"Alleviating the exploitation of consumers by the present supermarket duopoly won't be an easy fix. It will take determined, careful effort on many fronts in order to make a difference," warned Garrick.

The Commission is urging the Government to prepare legislation to establish a dedicated regulator for the grocery sector that will -

• ensure access to wholesale grocery items for new grocery chains
• establish an enforceable code of conduct between major retailers and suppliers to prevent exploitation
• facilitate planning regulations about supermarket development so that developments are not endlessly delayed.

Garrick told CathNews that he does not think it will be easy to rein in these two giants - even in Australia where there is a third chain, the two main players have 82% of the market and have very aggressive policies to expand their retail range and use restrictive covenants to keep out others.

However, the Commission remains committed to doing what it can to speak up and help protect the most vulnerable.

Source

• Supplied: Auckland Justice and Peace Commission.

It is a good time to look closely at household budgets and seek help if the budget doesn't balance.

• International crude oil prices have risen sharply.
• Global demand is still rising.
• Supply is increasing, but not fast.
• Sanctions on Iran could disrupt supply.

It is a mixed bag to say the least.

Rising oil prices, a falling exchange rate and rising taxes have increase the cost of fuelling up. This will affect households and businesses. Transport is deeply embedded in our economy.

Transport is also a necessity, rather than a luxury. When fuel prices increase it is hard to avoid. So the money spent on fuelling up increases, and other spending on nice-to-haves falls.

The price increases can also take a while to come through.

The cost at the pump increases quickly, but the cost of freight often take time.

This means that rising transport costs take a while to come through to the things we buy at the shops.

The increase in fuel prices joins the likes of rent, home ownership, rates, insurance, fruits and vegetables. They have risen faster than incomes in recent years.

Even though there are more jobs, and firms are finding it hard to recruit labour, wages have been rising at a modest pace.

There has been an uneasy truce.

Many businesses are finding it difficult to increase prices and keeping wage costs under control has been critical to ensure profitability and sustainability of businesses.

Increasing cost of necessities is squeezing households hard.

With wage increases harder to come by, many are working longer hours to make ends meet. A sudden increase in fuel prices makes it even harder.

The impact is inevitably largest on low income households, because they have so little discretion in their weekly budget.

An increase in the cost of necessities like rent and fuel can mean sacrificing on the groceries, or delaying purchasing clothes or even modest treats. Continue reading

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• Shamubeel Eaqub is an experienced economist who makes economics easy. He is also an author, media commentator and a thought leading public speaker.

According to 2013 census data, which was collated by the University of Otago, Wellington's Dr Kate Amore in her Severe Housing Deprivation in New Zealand study, around 41,000 Kiwis are classed as homeless.

"Before we did this we had no idea what the scale of homelessness was and if you need to address something you need to measure it and I think it has changed the conversation about homelessness," Dr Amore told 1 NEWS.

The data has always been collected every census but wasn't tapped into until 2001 when the first study by Dr Amore was published.

"This is the first work that shows the scale of the problem."

Dr Amore's study also uncovered the number of children 15 and under who are classed as homeless was close to 10,000.

"There are minors, children, sometimes on their own, but often with their family," says Dr Amore.

Discovering this last number in the 2013 census data, she predicts the number of homeless could have risen since.

Who are the homeless in New Zealand?

It was in 2009 that Statistics New Zealand, Housing New Zealand and the Ministry of Social Development produced a definition for homelessness in New Zealand.

It defines homelessness as: "Living situations where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing are either without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing accommodations or living in uninhabitable housing".

This includes those sleeping rough, in cars and people who are in boarding houses, camping grounds and staying in other's lounges or garages.

"For most people we're not talking about home ownership, we're talking about accessing a place to rent so anyone who can't access a place to rent is homeless," says Dr Amore.

Although rough sleeping and families living in their cars have become the picture of what homelessness looks like in New Zealand, 70 per cent of the homeless population are living in overcrowded conditions.

"There's only a small portion of the population sleeping on the streets. Half of the overall population are under 25, so it's a lot of young people, young families."

Nearly half of the population are women and a quarter are aged 15 to 24-years-old. Continue reading

• Image: TVNZ

This will consider the issue of whether New Zealand should continue not to tax most capital gains (tax the fruit from the tree, but not any growth in the tree that bears the fruit).

The Labour Party, however, has already indicated its strong commitment to a capital gains tax, following countries such as Australia that has had a capital gains tax since 1985.

It is important that New Zealand gets this right. Unfortunately, Labour has said it intends having any capital gains tax enacted before the next election - late 2020 - to come into effect 1 April 2021.

That means legislation into Parliament in the first half of next year, soon after the Working Group's final report in February.

In reality, the Working Group will need to all but finalise its February report by the end of this year, with legislation soon after that.

Not much time. No time for proper consultation. No time to think through the consequences.

A capital gains tax would mark a sea change in the New Zealand tax system.

We have, over the past 30 years, established a world class tax system that is relatively simple, has low compliance costs, and stays in the background.

Unlike Australians, most New Zealanders do not face the annual nightmare of complex income tax returns. When I was Minister of Revenue, I strongly supported the view that the need for tax returns should be rare, not standard.

A capital gains tax is likely to change all that. Capital gains tax is known to require some very complex rules, have high compliance costs, involve filing lengthy tax returns and be very intrusive.

If you do not believe me, ask any Australian what they think (except of course Australian tax accountants and lawyers who earn mega fees from their complex rules).

Taxing capital gains would impact on all areas of the economy.

A particular concern to me is the housing market. This is where much of the revenue will come from.

The Government has said the family home will not be taxed. Fair enough. But this excludes most housing and means no increase in affordable homes. The rich will invest in mansions, putting further pressure on urban house prices. And what if the home is partly used for rental, a homestay or Airbnb? Is the increase in value of the family home then taxed?

The impact on the most vulnerable - those living in rentals could be disastrous. Continue reading

• Judith Collins is a New Zealand politician. She is the National MP for Papakura and is the National Party's spokesperson for Housing.
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In a memorandum sent by Cardinal Dew to all parishes they say, "We encourage parishes in their regular Mass of Anointing of the sick, and the formation and support of those who take communion to the sick and elderly.

"These are ways of keeping us aware of the value of all human persons, no matter how ill and dependent on others they may be."

The memorandum contains 2 specific suggestions for parishes to consider:

1. To include regularly in the prayers of the faithful at Sunday Mass a prayer focussing on the respect for life, for those who care for the sick and dying, and for politicians to exercise wisdom in their deliberations on euthanasia.

2. To choose individuals who would be able to be a point of contact for communications on matters related to euthanasia, and would be able to share that within the parish.

Copy of Cardinal Dews Memorandum

210. It is essential to draw near to new forms of poverty and vulnerability, in which we are called to recognize the suffering Christ, even if this appears to bring us no tangible and immediate benefits. I think of the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly who are increasingly isolated and abandoned, and many others.Migrants present a particular challenge for me, since I am the pastor of a Church without frontiers, a Church which considers herself mother to all. For this reason, I exhort all countries to a generous openness which, rather than fearing the loss of local identity, will prove capable of creating new forms of cultural synthesis. How beautiful are those cities which overcome paralysing mistrust, integrate those who are different and make this very integration a new factor of development! How attractive are those cities which, even in their architectural design, are full of spaces which connect, relate and favour the recognition of others!

211. I have always been distressed at the lot of those who are victims of various kinds of human trafficking. How I wish that all of us would hear God's cry: "Where is your brother?" (Gen 4:9). Where is your brother or sister who is enslaved? Where is the brother and sister whom you are killing each day in clandestine warehouses, in rings of prostitution, in children used for begging, in exploiting undocumented labour? Let us not look the other way. There is greater complicity than we think. The issue involves everyone! This infamous network of crime is now well established in our cities, and many people have blood on their hands as a result of their comfortable and silent complicity.

212. Doubly poor are those women who endure situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence, since they are frequently less able to defend their rights. Even so, we constantly witness among them impressive examples of daily heroism in defending and protecting their vulnerable families.

213. Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent among us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this. Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church's effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative. Yet this defence of unborn life is closely linked to the defence of each and every other human right. It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems. Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defence of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be. Reason alone is sufficient to recognize the inviolable value of each single human life, but if we also look at the issue from the standpoint of faith, "every violation of the personal dignity of the human being cries out in vengeance to God and is an offence against the creator of the individual".[176]

214. Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question. I want to be completely honest in this regard. This is not something subject to alleged reforms or "modernizations". It is not "progressive" to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life. On the other hand, it is also true that we have done little to adequately accompany women in very difficult situations, where abortion appears as a quick solution to their profound anguish, especially when the life developing within them is the result of rape or a situation of extreme poverty. Who can remain unmoved before such painful situations?

215. There are other weak and defenceless beings who are frequently at the mercy of economic interests or indiscriminate exploitation. I am speaking of creation as a whole. We human beings are not only the beneficiaries but also the stewards of other creatures. Thanks to our bodies, God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement. Let us not leave in our wake a swath of destruction and death which will affect our own lives and those of future generations.[177] Here I would make my own the touching and prophetic lament voiced some years ago by the bishops of the Philippines: "An incredible variety of insects lived in the forest and were busy with all kinds of tasks... Birds flew through the air, their bright plumes and varying calls adding color and song to the green of the forests... God intended this land for us, his special creatures, but not so that we might destroy it and turn it into a wasteland... After a single night's rain, look at the chocolate brown rivers in your locality and remember that they are carrying the life blood of the land into the sea... How can fish swim in sewers like the Pasig and so many more rivers which we have polluted? Who has turned the wonderworld of the seas into underwater cemeteries bereft of color and life?"[178]

216. Small yet strong in the love of God, like Saint Francis of Assisi, all of us, as Christians, are called to watch over and protect the fragile world in which we live, and all its peoples.

Laws are going to be changed, requiring solo parents on a benefit to look for part-time work when their youngest child is five and fulltime work when that child turns 14.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says extensive skill training programmes and help with childcare are essential parts of her package. "We're not cutting benefits, we're trying to move people ahead and we're not being punitive," she said. "Long-term reliance on benefits is one of the worst things that can happen to families and we need to help them get off it."

Responding to claims these reforms amounted to beneficiary bashing and were unrealistic the Prime Minster, John Key expressed the opinion that plenty of women go back to work when their baby is a year old and that it makes financial sense to do so.

Labour, NZ First, the Greens and the Mana Party say there aren't any jobs available and beneficiaries are being unfairly targeted.

Child Poverty Action Group says at the time when the Government is consulting on vulnerable children, it's about to blow a huge hole in the safety net provided to thousands of children whose parents are on a benefit. Spokesman Dr Mike O'Brien says there are also issues around what provisions will be put in place to protect parents of high-needs children.He says the proposals suggest there's no understanding within the Government that the care of children is hard work.

New Zealand Council of Christian Social Service's (NZCCSS) most recent Vulnerability Report, published in September 2011, concluded that the increasing hardening of access to government benefits and housing is resulting in higher levels of vulnerability and more people wanting services from social support organisations. It said most NZCCSS members experienced another strong increase in demands for their services.

The NZCCSS is fostering debate to encourage politicians to address the impact of income inequality through government policy.

NZCCS represents six denominations — Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and the Salvation Army — who are responsible for about 500 social service delivery sites nationwide.

The changes in benefit eligibility and access to state housing in particular seem to have been having an impact. "There has been a large drop in the number of hardship grants - including for food and benefit advances to help pay for power. This appears to be a direct result of the requirement to get budgeting advice if you need to get more than three grants a year", said NZCCSS Executive Officer, Trevor McGlinchey. "Community social service providers have been coping with a surge in budget advice referrals, and while some areas in Auckland had a drop in demand for food parcels many others have had a marked increase in requests."

"The National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) believes in principle that stage one of the Government's welfare reforms represents a positive step in the right direction," NCWNZ President Elizabeth Bang said today.

The National Business Review has an extensive list of links to blogs and opinions about the welfare reforms.

• The Manawatu Standard
• NZCCSS
• NewstalkZB
• TV3
• The Christian Century
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It is the closest a Catholic bishop in England and Wales has come to criticising the Coalition's austerity measures.