When publicity stunts go bad

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, December 17th, 2024 - 3 comments
Categories: Christopher Luxon, Economy, national, politicans, poverty - Tags:

The beloved leader recently posted a photo of his wife and himself helping out the packing line at the Elim Christian Centre Christmas Box Initiative in Botany Downs.

He said that it was great to see 750 volunteers packing over a thousand boxes for families in need this Christmas.

He obviously thought it was something he should get praise for although my first thought was that as Prime Minister he has the power to do something significant for families in need.

And it jarrs because his miniscule effort to help is totally overwhelmed by government cuts for funding of food banks.

From Amy Williams at Radio New Zealand:

Some of Auckland’s largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after the government indicated it will not fund them next year.

It comes as many working households still struggle to put food on the table after a year of rising unemployment, while a predicted economic recovery is still many months away.

Auckland City Mission got a one-off government grant to continue its food bank services until the end of the year and is now wondering what comes next.

City Missioner Helen Robinson said it had asked the coalition government for annual funding so it could keep providing 50,000 food parcels in 2025 – but that looked unlikely.

“I’m worried. I know hundreds of thousands of Aucklanders rely on the mission for food and I know what it means when people don’t have enough food.”

Other charities are also struggling.

Dave Letele’s Buttabean foundation was on track to close until a couple of philantropists stepped in and provided needed support.

The Good Works Trust, which gets referrals from the city mission, state agencies and charities supporting people in need, only has enough to keep its school lunch packs going until term two next year.

Operations Manager Sophie Gray said this:

The vulnerable clients that we’re working with have less available to them in terms of support from [the Ministry of Social Development] and the foodbanks have less support in terms of also supplying them. So those two things have happened at the same time … it’s been a major shakedown.”

The Government’s excuse is that funding for food banks was temporary only and was due to end when Covid funding ran out. And according to Minister Louise Upston the government does not intend to extend funding past this year.

It shows their priorities.

Photo opportunities for the Prime Minister are more important than making sure people have enough to eat.

How utterly National.

3 comments on “When publicity stunts go bad ”

  1. tc 1
    17 December 2024 at 9:52 am

    Rubbing it in is also very National micky.

    Reply
  2. Anne 2
    17 December 2024 at 10:30 am

    Yeah… deny the kiddies from poor families access to healthy nutritious meals while growing up, and then when they rebel as teens and young men and women, throw them in boot camps and prison – too thick upstairs to see the correlation between the two?

    Reply
  3. Grey Area 3
    17 December 2024 at 10:37 am

    We're not dealing with normal people here. They really don't give a shit how it looks. They are truly awful human beings.

    They have an agenda, and amidst what we think is chaos, they are following it and achieving the goals set for them.

    They simply do not share the standards and values most of us try to live by to create a fairish society for the benefit of as many as possible.

    Reply

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