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October 07, 2025
Jobseeker Cuts Will Burden Struggling Parents, Says Child Poverty Advocate
Atereano Mateariki
Posted On October 7, 2025
Download AudioA controversial government proposal to cut Jobseeker support for 18 and 19-year-olds will deliver “tough love” to parents, not their children.
The policy, expected to save $84 million a year, assumes parents earning over $65,000 can and will support their young adults.
Child Poverty Action Group life member Susan St. John says there’s been no proper analysis of who will be affected or what the unintended consequences might be.
“It’s a very weird policy. It seems just to have been plonked out of nowhere. I’m very concerned that there’s been no regulatory impact statement, which would give an analysis of who’s affected and what the unintended consequences might be. It seems designed to save money, basically, although it’s couched in terms of doing the right thing for our young people and saving them from a lifetime of dependency and all of that kind of rhetoric that goes around justifying such a peculiar policy,” says St. John.
She warns the burden will fall on parents already struggling to make ends meet.
“Well, the tough love actually seems to be going to fall on the parents. They’re the ones that are going to have to cope with the teenager who doesn’t have enough money to clothe themselves or to get a bus or groom themselves for the job interview or anything like that. And of course, teenagers, as we know, eat an awful lot of food. And where does all that fall? It falls on the parents,” says St. John.
The government says the changes will take effect next November, but critics warn it could leave vulnerable youth and their whānau without a safety net.
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