Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2025 - Kia orana tatou katoatoa. Fakaalofa lahi atu ki a mutolu oti, and welcome to Tagata Pasifika. On the show today ` The coalition government's 2025 budget is out. How will it impact our Pasifika communities? We find out in our talanoa. In our Pacific news wrap, the search is on for the families of Niue's World War II coast-watchers. - The contribution of the Pacific was hugely important both in numerical terms, the numbers of those who actually went and served, but certainly the effect on a place like Niue. - And despite some travel disruptions, The Mana Moana roadshow got underway at Spark Arena. - It's the voices and songs of our ancestors, it's our community personified. - Malo le soifua maua ma le lagi e mama, malo 'etau lava, and welcome to our polokolame. To our talanoa now, and as we heard, the government's budget came out this week. And while it was touted as a going for growth budget, critics have not been so complimentary. In a moment, we'll hear from our own commentators, but first, the headlines from the budget. Here's John Utanga. - Finance Minister Nicola Willis already signalled no new money would be spent, and that's exactly what we got, with money freed up from cuts across the board, including KiwiSaver contributions, as well as savings from the controversial pay equity changes. Speaking of KiwiSaver, government's contribution is being halved to a maximum $261 a year. At the same time, the minimum contribution for employers and workers will go up to 4%. In a signal to growth, businesses get a tax break of 20% on any new assets like machinery, tools and equipment. Elsewhere, 18- and 19-year-old jobseekers will now get their benefits means-tested against their parent's income. In terms of cost of living support, those on long-term medication will be able to get a prescription for 12 months instead of the current three. Also, there's more money for low-income families under Working for Families. In terms of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, it gets a further cut of $36 million, following on last year's $24 million cut. Those cuts are to the Tauola Business fund, the Tupu Aotearoa jobseeker programme and the Dawn Raids Reconciliation programme. Funding for the National Fale Malae in Wellington has also been cut, from $10 million to just the $2.7 million already spent on the project. On the plus side, a new initiative providing funding for Pasifika Wardens will introduce $1 million of new spending over the next four years. And finally, funding of $15 million for food banks has been approved for another year. - All right, so here to give their own take on Budget 2025 is Salvation Army policy analyst Ana Ika and Leaupepe Ralph Elika from ECG Consulting. Malo soifua and kia ora. - Malo e lelei. Thanks for having me. Us. - Malo. I'll start with Ana Ika ` $15 million for food banks. This is something that that the Salvation Army` you and your team do. Is this going to help? - Yeah, absolutely. I think that's one of the key areas that we've been advocating for pre-Budget was around food insecurity. When we're looking at our Pasifika families, our Pasifika children, one in two Pacific children don't have` are struggling in regards to food insecurity, so don't have enough food coming into their households. So this $15 million was very` yeah, we welcome it. The Salvation Army` we have 60 food banks across the country, and so we're seeing a lot of food hardships come through our front doors. - So it's only for an extension of a year. Will this be enough to cover some of the costs? - I mean, yeah, I think we` that we start with some good news, and that was some good news. There's a lot of other areas that, you know, we didn't see funding allocated to in regards to welfare and support. But I think particularly with food insecurity, this is something that we'll welcome. 12 months does go by really quickly, and so we do hope that there are more innovation in this space. - Leaupepe speaking of innovation, do you feel like as a business owner you have to be innovative with some of the announcements? Maybe` Let's start with the tax break of 20%. Is that some good news for you as a business owner? - Yes, it's good news, I guess, for businesses across the board, at a macro level. But I guess for Pacific businesses it's a drop in the ocean, and I say that because ` just to give you context ` so Pacific businesses make up 1.6% of the business community. So they're very small. And then sole traders is 1.5%. So if you look at Pacific businesses, there's not many out there already. So to put 20% across all the businesses makes it very hard, and the fear is that a lot of our Pacific businesses get lost within the machinery of this funding. - It's... We'll come back to that, cos I know you're heavily involved in the business sector for our Pasifika community, but Ana Ika, there's some help or possibly some changes to the KiwiSaver. Can you tell us a little bit about what you think of some of the changes to the KiwiSaver? - Yeah, I think if we sort of take a wide perspective, in this aspect, we're looking at Pacific communities, we're predominantly younger, and so` and a lot of our Pacific families sort of depend on KiwiSaver for retirement and also for first-home ownership. And the cut from the government means that a lot of` yeah, a lot of our Pacific families who are dependent on KiwiSaver will miss out. But then they're also` yeah, and then they're also required to contribute a lot more. And so there are long-term impacts in regards to Pacific communities if we're just looking at our demographic makeup and how young our population is. - Yeah. Let's go on to employment. Jobseekers ` there's going to be some changes there, Ralph, in terms of 18- to 19-year-olds. Can you share` what are your thoughts around that for these changes? - Yeah, I think it's` I mean, the difficulty there, I guess, even with KiwiSaver, I think the difficulty there is that there's a` the government is trying to drive a need for us to contribute more. And that's both from business, from employers and employees. But I guess there's no incentive, given that they're halving their own contribution. So I think that's the difficulty there, and that's the ongoing issue, especially because young people are already facing, especially us in the Pacific, were already facing an economic climate that has got cost` you know, rising costs of living, and again, the economic outlook for jobs and employment and opportunities limited as it is. And so to ask for this very same population, this very same group, to be putting in more and then to put pressure on the employers as well, it's just going to compound matters. - Now some full disclosure here ` you did some work` you are doing some work for the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Ralph. And there's some further cuts, $36 million. Now, this is on top of last year's $24 million. There's some changes to some of their projects in the community. I know that you are working in the Pasifika Business Village project. Is that impacted by some of the cuts to the ministry? - Yes, no, thank you, John. So I think those cuts are really gonna cut deep, I guess, especially for the Pacific business community ` in particular, the Tauola Fund. So you're right, we are part of the Pacific Business Village, and the Pacific Business Village` at this stage, it looks like the funding is remaining. But the Tauola Fund, which is quite ironic, because this government has been talking about economic development as the going forward budget and all these things, and then that 20% tax deduction is supposed to be a stimulus to provide that growth. But the Tauola Fund is actually designed to do the exact same thing, and it's targeted and focused on Pacific businesses, and that's been removed completely. So I think the hard thing now is that the government is saying one thing and then doing another. And like I said, at a macro level, it looks` it looks good. It looks like, yeah, there's work there. But as the context I gave you, the Pacific business community is a small one. And yet they're looking for us to increase productivity, to increase employment, to get more people off Jobseeker and into employment, and yet the means is very little. And now we've just lost the Tauola Fund. - Let's come back to you, Ana Ika. Tell us about` do you think that will help people find jobs? Because at the moment, we are almost double the national rate of unemployment. There's also the addition` well, some help to Working for Families. What are your thoughts around that? - From our perspective, the minor increases to Working for Families won't make much of a difference. It won't make a tangible difference to the Pacific families we sort of see come through our front doors. Employment is one of the sort of circuit-breakers to help our family, you know, through financial hardship. But unfortunately, you know, there's a lot of challenges around trying to get into employment. Pacific unemployment is almost double. And then in addition to that, the Tupu Aotearoa from MPP has also been cut as well. So there are challenges there in regards to trying to get more of our Pacific into employment. Then there are wider issues, like a lot of us in construction, and that slowed down significantly. You know, we welcome the 500 new houses in Auckland that hopefully will bring up employment in regards to our Pacific in that sector. But again, it's not enough to make a` I think they were talking about it's a resilient budget. It's not enough to make our community resilient. - We have to leave it there, unfortunately. So much to talk about, but thank you very much for the work that you do, Ana Ika, Leaupepe. Malo 'aupito for your advocacy in our community. All right. Stay with us ` when we come back, our Pacific News Wrap, and this week, empowering with essential life skills in Samoa. - We just wanted to see if there are more projects to do for this year and in the future, to see where we can help and give back to our community, especially for our kids here at the Campus of Hope. (UPBEAT PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) - Taeao manuia. Malo ni. Welcome back to Tagata Pasifika. It's time now for our news wrap from the region, thanks to our partners at Pasifika TV PCBL. Now this week, Niue looks for the families of its coast-watchers, while in Papua New Guinea, seniors are being encouraged to get more active. Ann-Tauilo Motuga has the details and more. - To the Cook Islands ` Front line workers and volunteers gather to discuss the country's response to mental health. - The purpose of the workshop is to bring in front-liners from health, from the police, from prison, essentially all the front line staff who have first contact with our people, especially in issues with mental health. The purpose of the workshop is to keep them up to date with medicines and practices in terms of mental health. What the situation is here on Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands and also in the outer islands, so we do have outer island representatives and nurses here. - So far, I'm learning some new things, and I hope also that the things that I learn in this workshop will enable me to provide the service better in Mangaia in regards to mental health cases. - It's a topic that's sensitive, and most people don't like talking about it. And so I` I spoke about mental illness being invisible. You can't see it, but it's real. It's also a struggle. It's misunderstood and ignored, and anyone can get it at any age. - To Niue, and work is underway to find the families of seven men who served as coast-watchers during World War II. - 126 servicemen would return home, But 20 years later, Niue would be called to serve again. - The contribution to the Pacific was hugely important, both in numerical terms, the numbers of those who actually went and served, but certainly the effect on a place like Niue. - It's a body of work and research that began with identifying Cook Island coast-watchers, and that piece of research has now concluded, and their focus has now shifted to finding the families of the seven brave Niuean coast-watchers. - Time for us to look back and also look forward to what's the best, what we can do now to fill in the gap of those missing things, for example, about these headstones. - In Samoa, a project to empower young girls to upskill and enhance life skills through sewing. - These are some of the more than 100 girls currently housed at the Campus of Hope who are learning how to sew, a life skill made possible through the support of Swire Shipping Samoa. Speaking to Tala Fou, sustainability champion for Swire Shipping Tiaana Ofoia explained the purpose of their visit. - Come see the kids and also to take photos of the art centre that we assisted in funding and, um, we just wanted to see if there are more projects to do for this year and in the future, to see where we can help and give back to our community, especially for our kids here at the Campus of Hope. Me as a mother ` you know, I see them all the same, and it's very inspiring to learn about what our president and everyone else here that's doing for the kids, and we just hope we can give back for them. - To the Solomon Islands, the use of arts and crafts is supporting women and girls with disabilities. - The Disabled People's Association of Solomon Islands recently conducted a training programme focused on economically empowering women and girls with disabilities. The training, supported through the Australian NGO Cooperation Programme, aimed to build participants' capacity by providing practical skills that support self-reliance and financial independence. - I'm partaking in this tie-dye training with these ladies from people with disabilities. It has been very eye-opening for me. I came in to teach them, but it turns out that I was taught so much by these ladies too. They are very smart. They're quick learners, and working with them has been very fun. I hope that while they learn from me and they use their skills and the knowledge to further their own livelihoods, I also hope that with what I have learned today, I can better facilitate with tie-dye training in the future too. - Finally, to sport, and Papua New Guinea are promoting healthy living for seniors. - The PNG Basketball Federation has kicked its preseason Golden Oldies basketball challenge at the Sir John Guise Stadium. This is part of the programme leading to the Golden Jubilee. Speaking to Trukai Sports yesterday, Lakwa Stingrays captain from Tubusereia village Nanai Hane shared an insight to the importance of participating. - This is to encourage other people like us because some are... some are very young, but when you look at them, like, they are... they are very old people now because they cannot look after their health ` so much drinking, and they do not do any sports activity. They just roam around the village. So we are trying to be a model to them. - Organisers say this initiative is part of Basketball Federation's broader community engagement programme. It is about beating lifestyle diseases and building self-esteem. - Sorry, I'm just signing up for that basketball team. Tankiu tumas. Always one of my favourite segments on the show. All right, after the break, the Pasifika choral phenomenon that's Mana Moana. - It makes me feel excited, eh, because those two things are quite distinct. You know, our Pasifika music ` you associate it in a world opposite to kind of orchestra music, eh, but they share a lot of similarities, eh. (UPBEAT PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) - Halo olgeta, 'ia orana, and welcome back to Tagata Pasifika. Mana Moana, the Signature Choir, celebrated a second concert earlier this month. It took months of rehearsals for two choirs in both Auckland and Wellington. Soana 'Aholelei has the story. (CHOIR SINGS IN HARMONY) - Mana Moana, the fusion of NZSO, the Auckland Philharmonic and the Signature Choir belting out traditional Pacific Island songs. (CHOIR SINGS IN SAMOAN) With a sellout concert in 2023, it was only a matter of time before a second concert was announced. - It makes me feel excited, eh, because those two things are quite distinct. You know, our Pasifika music ` you associate it in a world opposite to kind of orchestra music, eh, but they share a lot of similarities, eh. There's storytelling, there's emotional drive, and there's all those things that kind of, you know, bring emotion to life. And so it's really cool that we get to... sing our music, be supported by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and bring it to thousands of our people at Spark Arena. - So, we have four new songs. We have a Samoan song, a Tongan song, a Fijian song, and then a mix of different languages. (CHOIR SINGS IN PACIFIC LANGUAGE) - Many in the original choir have returned. - I think for the first one, we didn't really know what to expect. I don't think anyone knew what to expect, whether you were in the choir, you know, you weren't singing, but you were involved or just coming to watch... Oh, man. It's awesome. It's everything. Um, just the pride. I think the mafana that we each felt up on the stage. - A lot of things, eh, but a word that comes to mind is feeling uplifted and empowered. You know, you come in expecting a show, and you leave getting an experience that you never thought you could have with your music and your kind of Pacific stories. (CHOIR SINGS IN PACIFIC LANGUAGE) - The choir giving individuals the opportunity to express themselves. - It's a stepping stone. I know that kids love to sing at school. They have their own choir, you know, performances and events. But later in life, we don't even get to have this opportunity again. So this is the perfect place for them to come back, relive those moments and connect with other people. (CHOIR SINGS IN HARMONY) - The choir is made up of around 80 participants from Auckland and Wellington, the majority being Samoan singers. - There wasn't really a selection process. There was an open call out for people to come, so it was more word of mouth to see who would be keen to be part of something like this. Um, and so we all just reached out. This person brought this person. So it was a real community, kind of grassroots kind of thing. You've got Samoan, Tongans, Niueans, uh, Cook Islanders. I know in Wellington there's... we have Fijians. (CHOIR SINGS IN HARMONY) - They have more shows in the works. - They're going over to Sydney later on in June. And so there's a Sydney-based choir that the Wellington lot will join with over there. So, yeah, it's just a` it's a community celebration event of everything that is Pacific. - And this is what months of rehearsal and preparation looks like. - In terms of Mana Moana, it's our heart, it's our soul. It's, you know, it's the voices and songs of our ancestors. It's our community personified. If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. And that's the essence of Mana Moana. You know, the ocean combines us as Pasifika people through our music and through our songs. We want to give you that feeling as well. (CHOIR SINGS IN PACIFIC LANGUAGE) - But not everything went to plan. Most of the NZSO choir were grounded in Wellington. Luckily, the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra stepped in. And as they say, the show must go on. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Marie, marie. Oh my gosh ` taking me back to my choral days of singing flat right at the back of the church. Well, that's the end of our show. If you want to see any of our stories again or the latest Pacific news, go to tpplus.co.nz or TVNZ+. For now, have a great weekend, Aotearoa. Keep singing, keep shining. Kia orana e kia manuia. And we leave you now with some more Mana Moana. Ni sa moce. Ka kite. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) (CHORAL MUSIC DROWNED OUT BY CHEERING) Captions by Kate McCullough and Sam Baker. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.