Lindsay Mitchell: The other side of the story

The Latu family first appeared at RNZ pleading poverty. Their household consists of mum, dad, eight children and two relatives.

They have now reappeared in the NZ Herald. You can read the details at those two links.

What frustrates is that the two reporters who have written up the Latu family's plight have seemingly asked no questions about how much income the family actually receives and how they budget it.

Mr Latu cannot work due to a knee injury and neither does his wife.

A couple on welfare with two or more children receives on average $1,244 net per week. Here is a chart from the 2024 Total Incomes Report issued by MSD:

Click to view

The green portion - tax credits - refers to what is paid for the children. In the chart above, the average for two or more children is $397. But because there are eight Latu children that sum would rise to $967 weekly. According to MSD the first child receives $144.30 weekly and each subsequent child $117.56. You can do the maths.

So the Latu family's weekly income is now in the territory of $1814. The children each receive a further $50 monthly from the charity Variety through sponsorship, effectively adding another $100 onto the family's weekly income.

The chart above does not include the Winter Energy Payment which is $31.82 a week.

If you are following the calculation, the sum has reached $1,946 weekly during the winter months. Or $101,192 annually. After tax.

Additionally there are two relatives living with the family who will also bring in income but one can only speculate about what that is.

What can be safely stated is this. In New Zealand in 2025 the 'poverty' threshold is very high.

Now obviously I do not know what the family's outgoings are; whether they live in a state house and pay income-related rent, in a subsidised private rental or pay a subsidised mortgage. They may have high-interest debts; they might tithe to their church.

All we get with these types of mainstream media reports is emoting over unfair hardship and helplessness. One might wonder how much of the story was written by the charity and how much the journalist contributed.

In fact the redistribution of wealth into these families is substantial, by some people's standards, possibly eye-watering.

After nearly ninety years of social security it would be reasonable to conclude that the state cannot solve 'poverty'. Indeed, the more the state does, the more the state is expected to do.

Lindsay Mitchell is a welfare commentator who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.