LINDSAY MITCHELL: The other side of the story
- Administrator
- Sep 13, 2025
- 2 min read
The Latu family first appeared at RNZ pleading poverty. Their household consists of mum, dad, eight children and two relatives.
They have now reappeared in the NZ Herald. You can read the details at those two links.
What frustrates is that the two reporters who have written up the Latu family's plight have seemingly asked no questions about how much income the family actually receives and how they budget it.
Mr Latu cannot work due to a knee injury and neither does his wife.
A couple on welfare with two or more children receives on average $1,244 net per week. Here is a chart from the 2024 Total Incomes Report issued by MSD:
The green portion - tax credits - refers to what is paid for the children. In the chart above, the average for two or more children is $397. But because there are eight Latu children that sum would rise to $967 weekly. According to MSD the first child receives $144.30 weekly and each subsequent child $117.56. You can do the maths.
So the Latu family's weekly income is now in the territory of $1814. The children each receive a further $50 monthly from the charity Variety through sponsorship, effectively adding another $100 onto the family's weekly income.
The chart above does not include the Winter Energy Payment which is $31.82 a week.
If you are following the calculation, the sum has reached $1,946 weekly during the winter months. Or $101,192 annually. After tax.
Additionally there are two relatives living with the family who will also bring in income but one can only speculate about what that is.
What can be safely stated is this. In New Zealand in 2025 the 'poverty' threshold is very high.
Now obviously I do not know what the family's outgoings are; whether they live in a state house and pay income-related rent, in a subsidised private rental or pay a subsidised mortgage. They may have high-interest debts; they might tithe to their church.
All we get with these types of mainstream media reports is emoting over unfair hardship and helplessness. One might wonder how much of the story was written by the charity and how much the journalist contributed.
In fact the redistribution of wealth into these families is substantial, by some people's standards, possibly eye-watering.
After nearly ninety years of social security it would be reasonable to conclude that the state cannot solve 'poverty'. Indeed, the more the state does, the more the state is expected to do.
Lindsay Mitchell blogs here
Well, I wrote a lovely little dissertation on this subject with a very precise way of sorting the problem, but alas the moderators decided that it was not suitable for publication. There were no personal attacks, no swearing and no insulting words. So the thought police are busy here. I am disgusted. Now lets see if this gets cancelled as well.
Gosh, $1946.00 every week.
Even if $1000.00 went to rent every week, I cannot imagine how they are so unable to manage with that amount of money. I think they are totally taking the piss.
The Latu family will represent just the tip of the iceberg. And then there are those families who receive support from 'Working for Families', a scheme that was devised by Helen Clark and is just another poverty trap. Why not simply reduce the tax on working families (or even better, on everyone) and let them keep more of their own money in the first place.
But back to the Latu family and their particular situation. They are pulling $100k+ per annum and so there is no incentive for anyone within the family unit to get a job when they can stay home (state house?) and keep rorting the taxpayer. I think that it was Ronald Reagan who said something like…
Ian Boag below raises a serious honest question....
I have answered him with a serious honest reply.
Collectively you have been putting out or putting down a fellow citizen for doing what citizens do.
Its the dirty stinking rotten system at fault.
Consider carefully the crap that flows not only around NZ but the world in general.
Money is definitely not the root of all evil.
In a good free society Capital is the excess wealth obtained from production after a reasonable standard of living for all participants has been obtained.
Some Nations put Capital to good use, and in so doing are better prospects than others..
The operatives running NZ are blind to economic reality; they are not even…
This is undoubtedly a bit of a shocker. Out come the "they should,'t have had so many kids" and "the benefits should be capped at two kids" and and and.
Not a lot of suggestions about what to do about it right now .... take the kids away for a better life? .... yeah right. Put them into SERIOUS poverty .... maybe?
Whinge moan grumble. Wail and gnash teeth. What - right now - to do? Let's hear from someone what he/she would do if ne/she became God tomorrow ....