Support young people before they go on a benefit, mayors say
Photo:
Hurunui District Council / supplied
Two Canterbury mayors say the government shouldn't tamper with their youth job programme.
The government is
targeting getting young people off Jobseeker Support
, which has led to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) changing its funding criteria for the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs (MTFJ) programme, a youth employment scheme.
But Kaikōura Mayor Craig Mackle said the programme
helps support school leavers into employment
so they don't end up on a benefit in the first place.
''Here's a solution, if you're worried about young people going on a benefit, put more resourcing into MTFJ,'' Mackle said.
The jobs programme helps young people aged 16-25 into work through driver licensing, career advice and guidance, interview skills, preparing CVs, work experience and transport.
The Kaikōura MTFJ programme's funding is set to be slashed from $260,000 to $100,000 for the next 12 months from July 1.
Hurunui Mayor Marie Black said the Hurunui MTFJ programme is also facing a funding cut, but didn't want to give a figure.
Marie Black.
Photo:
Hurunui District Council
Black said young people needed fulfilment, so getting them into employment was essential.
The mayors were responding to a comment from Social Development Minister Louise Upston in a statement following last month's Budget.
''Recent forecasts show that people under the age of 25 on Jobseeker Support will spend an average of 18 or more years on a benefit over their lifetimes,'' Upston said.
Young people are eligible for Jobseeker Support from age 18.
The government plans to
introduce parental means testing for 18- and 19-year-olds
in a bid to push more unemployed young people into work.
MSD group general manager insights Fleur McLaren said modelling in 2023 suggested Jobseeker clients under age 25 were likely to spend an average 18.2 future years on a benefit, compared to an estimated 12.2 future years in 2017.
She said it was due to several factors, including a challenging economic outlook, complex issues such as mental health, and the difficulty getting off the benefit.
Kaikōura Mayor Craig Mackle (left) and the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs programme supported Courtney Burke to step up to be a diesel mechanic with her employer Sam Lewthwaite last year.
Photo:
David Hill / North Canterbury News
MSD is basing its MTFJ funding for the next 12 months, from 1 July, on the number of 18- to 24-year-olds on Jobseeker Support.
Hurunui District Council chief executive Hamish Dobbie said it will take time for the economy to fully recover.
''With every recession, it takes a while to recover, but there's always a couple green shoots coming through and we can see that in the primary sector.''
Te Hā o Mātauranga (Learning in Kaikōura) holds the MTFJ contract for the Kaikōura District Council.
''One of my concerns is that our government seems to be leaving it to families to stop their young people entering the benefit system, rather than helping young people to gain employability skills and find work,'' Te Hā operations lead Vicki Gulleford said.
She said young people started leaving school from the age of 16 but there are few options.
There is no tertiary education in Kaikōura and polytechs do not offer student accommodation to under-18s.
Kaikōura youth attended a taster mechanic course at Ara in Christchurch earlier this year.
Photo:
Kaikōura Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs
Gulleford said there needed to be support from families, employers and the wider community to help Kaikōura youth find a pathway.
''We have heard from different youth over the years that they will go away, that Kaikōura doesn't hold a future employment pathway for them.
''But their hearts will always hold Kaikōura as home, and hopefully we see them find a way back here in the future.''
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Beef farmers likely first in line for emissions-reducing livestock pill
Photo: RNZ/Susan Murray Industry-government venture AgriZero is hinting that New Zealand beef may be the first agricultural sector to gain access to tools like a new methane-reducing pill for livestock - and soon. Ruminant BioTech was developing a slow-release bolus, or pill, to be fed to livestock. Recent trials on New Zealand farms resulted in a reduction of methane emissions. It was one of AgriZero's 10 investments towards reducing agricultural emissions. AgriZero first invested $1.8 million into Ruminant BioTech's product in April 2023, followed by $4m to accelerate its commercialisation in August. Chief executive Wayne McNee said the company was planning a limited release for beef cattle, once it was approved by the regulator. "Ruminant BioTech, so likely to be the first of these products in the market. It's a bolus, many of you will have heard of, containing bromoform," he said. "The benefit of a bolus, obviously is that you can administer it once, it lasts for at least 100 days, reduces methane by 70 percent or so over that period. "And the current thinking is to probably administer one of these [boluses] to an animal during its lifetime, and you average out the benefit of that over the period of that beef animal's life." Ruminant BioTech's bolus won a protype category innovation award at Fieldays near Hamilton in June. Ruminant BioTech's bolus contained Tribromomethane (bromoform), a chemical compound that could be found in marine algae, phytoplankton or as a by-product of chlorinated drinking water. It applied to register trade names for two products, the "Calm A Cattle Bolus" in September and "Emitless" more recently in May. Department of Internal Affairs information showed Emitless was a 172g oral bolus containing 48g of Tribromomethane, and users were instructed not to use the product in cattle intended for reproduction, or cattle intended to produce milk for human consumption. Whereas, Calm A Cattle Bolus was a 165g bolus containing 36g of Tribromomethane, intended to reduce enteric methane emissions in cattle for up to 4 months. Last week, the Environmental Protection Authority said it determined that the inhibitor - containing 50-70 percent tribromomethane as the active ingredient - fit within the scope of the veterinary medicines group standard, under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1996), and did not require an individual approval. Before the product could be used in New Zealand though, it would require registration under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act (1997), which was administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries. New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general, Vincent Arbuckle said it had received and was assessing the application for registering Ruminant BioTech's "Emitless" product. Ruminant Bio Tech's R&D team holding boluses, designed to curb methane emissions in cattle, in front of the lab team producing a batch of boluses Photo: Supplied Arbuckle said the product was an intraruminal bolus for reducing enteric methane in cattle weighing between 350 kilograms and 450kg for up to 4 months. Would you feed your cattle emissions-reducing technologies like the bolus? Let us know ruralnews@ McNee said it expected a result from the regulator soon. "It's going through regulatory process at the moment and hoping to be available later this year or worst case early next year," he said. "Certainly by next year and over the next few years, we'll see one or two products, maybe three products come into the market each year. That's what the companies are telling us." McNee said in future, farmers will have a range of emissions-reduction tools to choose from. "If there's a productivity improvement, it may be relatively straightforward to get uptake. "But in other cases, if it's pure methane reduction, then at the end of the day, somebody's going to have to pay for that," he said. "There are a number of processors, certainly the ones that have invested in us, who are talking with companies offshore to look at the potential to provide incentives to farmers to take up those tools." Also speaking at the red meat sector conference in Christchurch this month, Dr John Roche the chief science advisor for the Prime Minister and the Ministry for Primary Industries, said progress had accelerated. "Incredibly exciting. I've sat in front of Select Committee for the last several years talking about these technologies and I kid you not, two or three years ago I was promising I'm reasonably confident they'll be here by 2030. "Two years later, I'm saying we will have a bolus that reduces methane by 70 percent in dry stock, slow release over 120 days, and it will be released either later this year or early next year," he said. "These technologies are coming fast and more of them are becoming available." Company records showed Ruminant BioTech Corp's main shareholders were Rosrain Investments, which owned 44 percent of the business. It had two company directors from New Zealand and two from Australia. Other backers included New Zealand Trustee Services, Crown Terrace Investments and New Zealand Green Investment Finance, the latter a government fund towards low-emissions projects that the government announced in April it will shut down .
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Small business sales drop
Photo: 123RF Small business sales underperformed in the second quarter of the year, with weakness concentrated in the North Island. The latest Xero Small Business Insights indicates sales fell 0.1 percent in the three months ended June over the year earlier, which was consistent with the downturn seen over the the past 12 months. The latest sales data was tracking under the long term average of 6.3 percent growth, and well below the 3 percent growth seen in Australia over the second quarter. However, the month of June was the best since April 2024, with sales up 4.4 percent. The agricultural sector was another bright spot with a 11 percent increase in sales in the June quarter, making it the third quarter in a row for double digit growth. However, Xero country manager Bridget Snelling said the resilience of the agricultural sector was not enough to offset weakness elsewhere, with the construction sector hit particularly hard with a 6.4 percent drop in sales. She said the sector's sales had been falling since late 2023, with retail and manufacturing sales also down. "Despite consistent OCR (official cash rate) cuts by the Reserve Bank since August 2024, we're yet to see the expected boost to consumer and business activity. "While there are some bright spots like agriculture, the overall picture remains muted." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Vehicles stolen after NZTA breaches privacy of 1000 owners
Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas A privacy breach exposed the details of nearly 1000 people in a Transport Agency database over the course of 12 months. The agency said the breach was suspected to have resulted in at least 13 vehicles being targeted for theft. It admitted the problem to RNZ after one of the people affected contacted RNZ. The agency said the problem involved the agency's Motochek system, which allowed registered users to electronically access information held on the Motor Vehicle Register. "NZTA became aware of the breach in May 2025, via a customer complaint and through police as a part of an ongoing investigation. We determined that the unauthorised access resulted from the Motocheck account of an ex-employee of Auckland Auto Collections Ltd being used to access people's names and addresses from the MVR," it said in a statement. "To date we have determined that names and addresses of 951 people were accessed improperly over the 12 months to May 2025, and that at least 13 of these vehicles are suspected to have been targeted for theft." The agency said it was contacting potentially affected people to advise them of the breach, update them on actions being taken to address the situation, and to provide support and advice to address their concerns. "We have sincerely apologised to those affected for the inconvenience and distress caused by the breach," it said. NZTA said it was also assisting police with their investigations of the breach and vehicles which might have been targeted for theft. It had also notified the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. NZTA said it had systems and processes to protect peoples' privacy, including the terms and conditions which authorised users were expected to meet if they accessed the register. "Work is underway to improve the protection of personal information within our registers, with a priority to address risks of harm. This work will involve improvements across policy, contractual, operational and digital aspects of register access," it said. A person affected by the breach was told in a message from NZTA that their full name and address were accessed last year. "We have been unable to confirm the reason why your name and address was accessed. If you feel that your personal safety is at risk, we encourage you to contact NZ Police directly," the message said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
