Budget 2025: Bay of Plenty foodbanks welcome $15m boost
The $15m will go towards national and regional food distribution infrastructure, food security initiatives that increase community food resilience and self-sufficiency, and help providers buy and distribute food.
It follows earlier funding.
Love Soup Kitchen, a not-for-profit based in Rotorua, provides free, health-focused meals for the elderly, families and children.
Manager Julie King said the money could have a real impact, especially if it was distributed fairly and reached frontline organisations.
'Any funding that helps us keep up with demand is a lifeline.'
King said Love Soup was remaining 'realistic' with the growing demand it is experiencing.
'We're seeing growing demand at our community pop-ups, especially from families struggling to keep up with rising grocery costs.'
Each pop-up attracted 100 to 400 people.
'Demand is overwhelming, we are constantly needing more kai, more storage, more hands and transport.
'The funding will help but it won't be enough to meet the full scale of need across Aotearoa.'
She said the challenges go beyond food alone and she would like to see long-term investment in food-rescue infrastructure, transport solutions and support for volunteer-driven organisations.
'While it's a positive step, it's not a full solution.'
Tauranga Community Foodbank general manager Nicki Goodwin said the news was 'so unexpected'.
'It does show the good work that's been done by some national groups that connect with the central government.'
She said these groups were getting the chance to share a clear picture of food insecurity.
'Voices are being heard, so that's positive.'
Goodwin said she did not know what the funding would mean for her organisation or how it would be distributed.
'If we assume they are going to share some funding with us, then the security that gives us to know the support we're giving will be able to continue without draining community resources and funders is important.'
The foodbank has helped 109% more people in April 2025 compared with April 2022.
It had 12% more households needing kai support in April this year compared with April 2024, which is an extra 75 households.
Goodwin said the extra Budget money gave hope.
'It gives us the security to know that we can continue to provide the kind of food support we're offering and not look at having to reduce what we provide or how many people we can help.'
The Salvation Army acknowledged the continued foodbank funding, which prevented closures and ensures people have access to food.
'However, this alone does not address the ongoing demand for food security.
'We seek to collaborate with the Government on a strategy to ensure all New Zealanders can reliably put food on the table every day.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsroom
3 hours ago
- Newsroom
Govt KiwiSaver cut ‘final nail in the coffin' for self-employed
Self-employed New Zealanders are re-thinking their retirement savings schemes after the Government slashed its KiwiSaver co-contribution in the Budget. Data compiled from accounting fintech Hnry's latest sole trader pulse check highlights negativity following the change, with 52 percent of the 502 self-employed workers polled, actively opposing the cut. Forty-three percent say it will alter their saving behaviour and 24 percent plan to reduce their contribution as a result of the change.
1News
9 hours ago
- 1News
'Call me Mr Cash Man': MP seeks protection for hard currency
Self-proclaimed cash advocate and MP Jamie Arbuckle believes his proposed law protecting hard currency transactions is about more than accessibility — it's also about privacy and preventing "Big Brother" surveillance. The New Zealand First MP's members' legislation, the Cash Transactions Protection Bill, would require vendors to accept cash up to the value of $500, with no limits on the amount of cash that must be accepted for essential items like fuel and food. 'There's a real concern across New Zealand that we're becoming a cashless society, and we've got a lot of people who depend on cash,' the MP told Q+A. He said that particularly applied to people living in rural areas, the elderly who are more comfortable using cash than digital systems, and those on low incomes. A self-professed fan of using cash, Arbuckle said, 'cash is king, and you can call me Mr Cash Man if you like.' ADVERTISEMENT 'I've got to tell you right now, I don't like walking into a shop and not being able to pay cash for a coffee.' Composite image by Vania Chandrawidjaja (Source: iStock/1News) But he said in an increasingly digital world, there was a more serious point to be made about the ability to make anonymous payments. 'People are telling me they want to have the ability to use cash, it's a freedom of choice issue.' 'It's really the only true way of having privacy in a transaction. You don't get that with electronic payments. There's always the concern that Big Brother or someone is able to look at where you've been, what you've purchased, so the majority of people have been very positive about protecting cash use.' A Reserve Bank survey released in June 2025 found that — while electronic and debit card use was by far the most common method of making payments — a significant minority of the country continued to use cash regularly. Around 46% of respondents said they used cash 'to pay for everyday things', down slightly from 48% which an equivalent survey found in June 2023. ADVERTISEMENT The survey also found a majority had used cash at least once in the seven days preceding the survey being taken, with approximately 33% of respondents saying they hadn't used cash in the last week, and a further 3.6% saying they would never use cash. Further research undertaken last year by the Reserve Bank found Kiwis value being able to use physical cash. Director of money and cash Ian Woolford said, '84% of respondents were worried about losing access to banknotes and coins, and want assurance that cash will still be issued by the Reserve Bank and not reduced or replaced by digital cash.' 'We'll keep issuing cash for as long as New Zealanders want to use it," he said in December. "We're doing a lot of work to redesign the cash system, including helping retailers through community cash services trials next year in several rural communities lacking over-the-counter bank or ATM services.' Some businesses have moved to being cash-free, but Arbuckle said in his view, it couldn't be an opt-in and opt-out system. 'The majority of businesses hold cash, so we're only talking about a small amount of businesses that would have to change. ADVERTISEMENT "Cash is legal tender, and you should be able to purchase with cash.' He said if the bill is pulled out of the member's bill biscuit tin, he'd welcome feedback from businesses that might be affected during the select committee process. Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
1News
20 hours ago
- 1News
Why NZ can't shake the recession: 'Brought to its knees'
New Zealanders were told to "survive till '25" for the economy to pick up - but now one major bank economist says it's probably going to be 2026 before any real improvement happens. Kiwibank's latest Annual Regional Note shows small improvements across the country, but weak scores overall. The national average score has lifted from three out of 10 to four. Southland and Otago top the table at five. Otago was boosted by a recovery in international tourism and improvement in employment. Northland, Taranaki and Gisborne went backwards. Taranaki had the biggest fall in employment of anywhere in the country, at 8%. Northland reported a double-digit drop in building consents. ADVERTISEMENT Retail sales remain below their average levels over the past decade in most regions, as weak household confidence weighs on consumption. Kiwibank said Wellington recorded the steepest annual decline at -3.3%, while regions like Waikato, Northland and the Bay of Plenty experienced a slight improvement on last year. 'Wellington is just more pessimistic' Wellington's score improved from a two out of 10 to a three out of 10 while Auckland lifted from a three to four. "Wellington is just more pessimistic," Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr said. "It's gone through a lot in recent years. You can see it in their activity, you can see it in the housing market. You can see it in the economy, the city has been brought to its knees and it's been struggling to shake the pessimistic vibe." He said both Auckland and Wellington were well below average. "If you look across the regions, some of them have gone backwards and others are improving but it's not good. "When you look at the South Island things are better, people are definitely more optimistic in the South Island but even then the top-scoring regions get a five out of 10." ADVERTISEMENT He said the report helped solidify the view that rate cuts to date had not been enough to turn around the economy. "We're really crawling out of this recession rather than regaining our footing and looking to grow from here. We're still struggling across the entire country." He said Kiwibank customers last year had talked about needing to hold on until this year. "We are halfway through the year and, yes, things are better but only by a little bit." Worse off than Australia New Zealand was worse off than Australia, he said. "Their economy is much stronger than ours but in their terms it's soft… where everything washes out is the labour market and, you know, the unemployment rate tells you a lot. Our unemployment rate is over 5% and theirs is pretty close to 4%." ADVERTISEMENT Part of the reason was the more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Reserve Bank, he said. "We were much more aggressive in our rate hikes than in Australia. We were much more aggressive on inflation than across the Tasman. "I think both the RBA and RBNZ made mistakes as I think every central bank did through the Covid period, we overstimulated in hindsight but at the time it was the right thing to do. And then we had to deal with the inflation problem." He said the Reserve Bank had kept the official cash rate at 5.5% for too long as it worked to tackle inflation. "We had a really bad recession last year, which the Reserve Bank openly orchestrated, they said 'look, we need a recession to get inflation back down'. The Australians didn't orchestrate a recession, they didn't slam the economy into the floor." Kerr said recovery was still coming but he had hoped it would have started more obviously by now. "We're hoping it takes off in the second half of this year as more and more people refix on to lower rates. Then it's more of a 2026 story now."
