Jacinda Ardern has defended her Government’s record on assisting New Zealanders living in poverty.
In autumn this year, the Government emphasised to Work and Income to not "turn people away" when it came to housing grants, the Prime Minister said.
"We know for instance that one of the things that is impacting the most those who are on government support has been the increasing cost of housing, it’s affecting everyone so of course it affects those on low incomes as well."
"We came into winter in particular, we sent a really clear message to Work and Income, ‘we absolutely have to support those who came through the doors and ask for help' and we didn’t want barriers and restrictions put up for those who were seeking that help."
"When you compare this last year, with the year prior, we approved, I think it was around 13,000 emergency housing grants, those are non-recoverable forms of assistance for people, That’s up about 8,000 the year prior."
"We were really deliberate about saying give the assistance to people who need it, don’t turn people away, you can see that in the numbers that are out there, and again those are non-recoverable."
Ms Ardern said sanctions had been reduced since they had come into office, adding that the increase in working for families and the winter energy payment were packages her Government had brought in shortly after coming into office.
"As statistics will show, we have significantly reduced sanctions, (they’ve) have come right down since we’ve been in office," she said.
She added that the Government were also taking a wider look at how the welfare system was working.
Auckland Action Against Poverty's Ricardo Menendez March told Breakfast the number of people needing official assistance was increasing, and he called on Ms Ardern to end the talk and start problem solving.
"New Zealand reports show that people on the benefit have been the most disproportionately affected by the rising cost of rent, and nothing has been done to address that.
"There's other stuff, such as petrol, food, etc, but it's really the cost of rent and housing that's affecting beneficiaries the most."
Mr Menendez March says what can be done is for the Government to "raise benefit levels, at the very least".
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