'More symbolic than anything': Public react to $350 cost of living payment

Thursday, 19 May 2022

People in Auckland react to the announcement of a $350 cost of living payment for people earning under $70k. (Video first published May 19.)

A $350 cost of living payment announced in the Budget on Thursday has been described as a token gesture by some Kiwis eligible to receive it.

Finance minister Grant Robertson announced the 2022 Budget would include a new temporary cost of living payment which would see adults earning up to $70,000 receive an extra $27 per week over a three-month period.

Those eligible will be paid in three monthly instalments from August 1, in an effort to help families cope with a 30-year-high inflation rate.

Adnan Ahmed, who lives in the West Auckland suburb of Henderson, said he wasn’t sure the payout would make a big difference.

Adnan Ahmed said he spent less on rent in Los Angeles than he now does in Henderson.

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“It seems like it’s more symbolic than anything. Everyone can use $350 but what is supposed to resolve?”

Ahmed said the payout would cover about two weeks' worth of groceries over its entire term, and would only touch a fraction of his rent.

“I used to live in west Los Angeles and my rent was cheaper than it is in Henderson, [I lived] two blocks from the beach.”

Kiri Retemeyer said being a beneficiary had made her put her cat before herself, often having more cat food in the house than food for herself.

He said the cost of living, particularly for food and housing, was “far too high”.

Ahmed said if the government did something about the cost of living, it wouldn’t need to worry about a $350 payout.

Avondale resident David Arai said the payout would be enough for some groceries, and it was “better than nothing”.

Harry Shi, a small business owner in his 40s, said his $350 payment would help ease the increase on rising costs of insurance and power.

“It’s not a big difference, it’s enough to survive.”

Kiri Retemeyer, who lives in Ponsonby, said being a beneficiary had made her put her cat before herself, often having more cat food in the house than food for herself. She said her family would point this out to her, and take her shopping.

She said her income was just a “drop in the ocean” compared to what she had to spend each week with living prices increasing since the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Pensioner Phil Williamson, 67, from West Auckland, is unhappy about not being eligible for the payments.

“It feels like mature people have been left out. I would have liked to see some form of targeted support for mature people.”

Williamson currently receives a pension rate of $420 a week which he said after rent, “doesn’t leave me much with much else”.

Harry Shi, who is in his 40s and owns a small business in Wellington, said his $350 payment would help with the rising costs of insurance and power.

It would pay for two or three weeks of his groceries, he said.

'A tax cut would make a meaningful difference, but it's never going to happen.'

Ashik Khan from Avondale said it wasn’t an easy job running the government, and it knew how to support its people.

He said some people would claim to be struggling, but to him, they weren’t.

Khan said he was lucky to be able to have the government support him in his retirement when he reached 65.