Craig Renney

We need to do better than this. For years we made bipartisan progress on tackling something that really matters. Children's futures are blighted by child poverty - something beyond their control. There can be fewer things more fundamental to the purpose of government than this.

This is what happens if you cut the minimum wage in real terms year after year. This is what happens if you spend more time kicking people out of housing rather than building it. This is what happens when you care more about cruise ship passengers than Kiwis.

Child poverty data from Stats NZ out today. All political parties except Act agreed to the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018, creating legally mandated targets for child poverty reduction. Right now, we are missing even the looser targets the government has set. A 🧵

If you think that life is getting harder, not easier, you aren't alone. Record numbers of people want work and can't get it. Highest unemployment in 10 years. More cuts signalled at the Budget in front of us. Do you feel back on track yet?

For households on the lowest incomes, annual inflation is 3.4%. For pensioners, its 3.8%. For the richest its 1.2%. The minimum wage goes up by less than inflation for 3 consecutive years in 26. That laser-like focus on the cost of living seems to be pointing at the wrong people

Prices for basics are rising again at a rate much faster than wages, new data from Stats NZ shows. 70% of workers got a pay rise less than 3% last year and 44% got no pay rise at all. Food prices rose 4.6% overall, with the price of white bread rising 58% this year. A 🧵

Charm Skinner, who works for the Salvation Army, reminded us that “in all this data, these are the real lived experiences of whānau”. We have choices ahead at the next election, about how to tackle these problems. Recent decisions have taken us here. Let’s make better choices.

Drug consumption has rocketed over the past two years. Meth use has nearly doubled during that time. Support for people affected by drug abuse needs more support given this weight of consumption.

I’m here at the release of the Salvation Army State of the Nation for 2026. It’s a portrait of the problems facing Aotearoa, and how we are doing in tackling them. Many of the problems we face have worsened over the past two years. A 🧵

@MrHilariouskiwi @Mountain_Tui @bighairynetwork stuff.co.nz/business/36086… it was announced in October last year they would go online only.

Is this another business closing / more job losses in New Zealand? @Mountain_Tui @bighairynetwork @CLRenney

If there is a recovery going on in the economy, it's not happening for working people. The cost of living is rising again. Work is harder to find. A tax cut doesn't help you if you don't have work. We need a real plan from the government, not another slogan.

There has been a fall in filled jobs in 11 of 16 sectors over the past two years. This includes manufacturing, construction, IT & telecoms, professional, scientific, technical & admin. Forestry & mining. Wholesale Trade. The fall in employment has been broad-based.

New unemployment data from Stats NZ today, showing the impact of an economy that isn't working. An additional 5,000 people became unemployed during the quarter, rising to levels last seen in 2015. 164,000 people are now unemployed, up 39,000 in just 2 years. A🧵