Tāmaki Makaurau electorate: Voters struggle to bear cost of living

The smallest Māori electorate is grappling with a disproportionately sized cost of living crisis.

The Tāmaki Makaurau electorate covers the majority of Auckland, south of the Harbour Bridge to the suburb of Takaanini. The width stretching from Piha in the west to Waiheke Island in the east. It has the most Māori voters – more than 45,000.

Even some people with a steady job are facing a choice between food or heating; driving without a warrant because they cannot afford the renewal fee; and visiting food banks to feed whānau.

It's a level of hardship those on the frontline say they have never seen before.

Debbie ‘Whaea Debs’ Munroe runs a food bank that hands out up to 300 food parcels a day in Manurewa.

She said the number of people coming in has “absolutely tripled” and a growing number of them are employed.

“Working whānau. Working whānau are coming in because their wages are not meeting their essential needs. Between their rent, their power and gas, there’s nothing left. There's nothing left for food.

“And because they're working, a lot of food banks turn them down because they don't meet the criteria.”

She said their food bank is different in that the only criteria for people coming in is a smile. “That allows anyone and everyone to come here.”

In Auckland's southern wards, 23% of households used a food bank at least once in the past year – almost double the national average visitor to food banks.

“When you think of food,” said Munroe, “you have to think of cleaning products, you have to think of dish washing liquid, you have to think of feminine products, you have to think of meat, veggies, anything other than that. There's not enough money to buy that.”

Mum-of-three Melanie Karena is a full-time employee struggling to keep on top of bills in a household of five on a single income.

“My rent is more than my wages, and then the petrol – to get to work, to drop the kids to school – and then food, power,” said Karena.

In Mount Eden, she pays over a thousand dollars a week in rent. Her employer helps with that cost, but what's left over is never enough.

“There's a worry every single night of ‘how am I going to pay this next bill that's coming in?’ Like, right now my rego's about to run out and I need my car to go to work. It’s $160, I think for six months.”

How will she pay for it?

“I don’t know, I just keep having faith in the Lord,” said Karena. “I really don't know. Probably my siblings in Australia.”

Karena’s work colleague Harriet Faralley is also the sole income in a single adult, three-children household grappling with car issues. She said the only car available to her is unregistered and unwarranted and her job as a drug addiction therapist requires her to travel.

"I need to go attend all the classes that I teach which is [in] multiple locations across Auckland, from Papatoetoe Central and then out to Mount Albert. So I'm at different locations during the day."

Faralley lives in Onehunga with her two children – 11 and 16 – and 17-year-old niece.

Her biggest expense is the rent which she said is the same as what she was paying in Ōtara. The second is the power bill which came in at $500 last round, she said.

“I have a fireplace, but it doesn't warm the whole house up, just the layout of the house, so I have to leave heat pumps on plus the heaters in the girls’ room.

“I don't use a heater because I just can't – that'll be another $80 per month, so I just handle it.”

She said they were living week to week.

“Even though you're on a 40-hour contract and you get family support, like I get Working for Families and then my wage, and then I get help with my rent, and I get help with my petrol. But I'm still short. It blows my mind. Like, that's quite a good income if this day and age wasn't how it is,” said Faralley.

The two mums ultimately want to give their children a life without struggle, said Karena.

“What are we gonna leave our children when we die? We're gonna leave them debt. We're gonna leave them no homestead because we just can't make ends meet here.”

According to a report by the Ministry of Social Development, more than one in every four children in South Auckland are living in material hardship with Māori and Pasifika children impacted the most. That's almost double the national average.

“Why are our food prices so high?” asks Karena. “Our gas prices are high, our rent so high – so how are we ever supposed to get ahead?”

The two mothers want to see polices that address their immediate needs of food, petrol and rent.

Munroe said people look at food banks and think of beneficiaries, but that is not the case. She said there are more elderly people unable to find employment and people from different cultures dropping in.

She wants the next government to provide the means for people to pay for power, to get electricity and petrol prices down.

“You know power bill's $500 a month? For a whānau, how do you pay that when you've only got a small amount of money? You know, you don't pay for power, what do you do? You go without power - you cannot do that. That means no hot water, no lights, you can't cook.

“We need to help people more. And look at some of these big companies and go 'come on guys, bring those costs down'.”

She said people were at the point where they are giving up. She wants those in power to change their views and way of thinking.

“Start thinking for the lower income families, the worker families, people on beneficiaries. Stop letting the rich get richer. Because they're not bloody helping us are they? They are absolutely crucifying New Zealanders.”

Does she worry it’s going to get worse?

“Absolutely. If the same government continues penalising people, it's going to get worse,” said Munroe.

She added: “I don't see a better future unless we change the government – but which government is the best government? They've all got their faults, they all make their promises and they never keep it. Everyone gets excited until they're elected, and then it all turns into custard because they don't follow through on what they say. Hōhā.”