{"id":619678,"date":"2026-10-03T19:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T19:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/619678\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T19:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T19:18:15","slug":"tamaki-makaurau-electorate-voters-struggle-to-bear-cost-of-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/619678\/","title":{"rendered":"T\u0101maki Makaurau electorate: Voters struggle to bear cost of living"},"content":{"rendered":"

The smallest M\u0101ori electorate is grappling with a disproportionately sized cost of living crisis. <\/p>\n

The T\u0101maki 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 M\u0101ori voters \u2013 more than 45,000.<\/p>\n

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 wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n

It’s a level of hardship those on the frontline say they have never seen before.<\/p>\n

The smallest M\u0101ori electorate is grappling with a disproportionately sized cost of living crisis. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Debbie \u2018Whaea Debs\u2019 Munroe runs a food bank that hands out up to 300 food parcels a day in Manurewa.<\/p>\n

She said the number of people coming in has \u201cabsolutely tripled\u201d and a growing number of them are employed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking wh\u0101nau. Working wh\u0101nau are coming in because their wages are not meeting their essential needs. Between their rent, their power and gas, there\u2019s nothing left. There’s nothing left for food.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because they’re working, a lot of food banks turn them down because they don’t meet the criteria.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Debbie<\/p>\n

Debbie ‘Whaea Debs’ Munroe runs a food bank that hands out up to 300 food parcels a day in Manurewa. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

She said their food bank is different in that the only criteria for people coming in is a smile. \u201cThat allows anyone and everyone to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Auckland’s southern wards, 23% of households used a food bank at least once in the past year \u2013 almost double the national average visitor to food banks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think of food,\u201d said Munroe, \u201cyou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Rent is more than my wages\u2019<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy rent is more than my wages, and then the petrol \u2013 to get to work, to drop the kids to school \u2013 and then food, power,\u201d said Karena.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Melanie<\/p>\n

Melanie Karena. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a worry every single night of \u2018how am I going to pay this next bill that’s coming in?\u2019 Like, right now my rego’s about to run out and I need my car to go to work. It\u2019s $160, I think for six months.\u201d <\/p>\n

How will she pay for it? <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, I just keep having faith in the Lord,\u201d said Karena. \u201cI really don’t know. Probably my siblings in Australia.\u201d <\/p>\n

‘I don’t use a heater because I can’t’<\/p>\n

Karena\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Faralley lives in Onehunga with her two children \u2013 11 and 16 \u2013 and 17-year-old niece. <\/p>\n

Her biggest expense is the rent which she said is the same as what she was paying in \u014ctara. The second is the power bill which came in at $500 last round, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019 room. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t use a heater because I just can’t \u2013 that’ll be another $80 per month, so I just handle it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Harriet<\/p>\n

Harriet Faralley. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

She said they were living week to week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven 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,\u201d said Faralley.<\/p>\n

Children likely ‘left with debt’, growing up in poverty<\/p>\n

The two mums ultimately want to give their children a life without struggle, said Karena.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 M\u0101ori and Pasifika children impacted the most. That’s almost double the national average.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are our food prices so high?\u201d asks Karena. \u201cOur gas prices are high, our rent so high \u2013 so how are we ever supposed to get ahead?\u201d<\/p>\n

The two mothers want to see polices that address their immediate needs of food, petrol and rent.<\/p>\n

\u2018Which is the best government?\u2019<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A blackboard sign at the Waka of Caring food bank with M\u0101ori proverb: ‘He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata… what is the most important thing, it is people.’ (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

She wants the next government to provide the means for people to pay for power, to get electricity and petrol prices down.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know power bill’s $500 a month? For a wh\u0101nau, 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to help people more. And look at some of these big companies and go ‘come on guys, bring those costs down’.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cStart 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does she worry it\u2019s going to get worse?<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely. If the same government continues penalising people, it’s going to get worse,\u201d said Munroe.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI don’t see a better future unless we change the government \u2013 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. H\u014dh\u0101.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The smallest M\u0101ori electorate is grappling with a disproportionately sized cost of living crisis. The T\u0101maki Makaurau electorate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4432,111,43,139,69,10872,270122],"class_list":["post-619678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-maori-issues","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-torangapu","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}