Slashing a fuel tax, cutting road user charges and halving the cost of public transport for three months is just applying “band aids to [the] festering sore” of poverty, the Manukau Urban Māori Authority says.
The Government announced on Monday the fuel excise duty and road user charges will be cut by 25 cents per litre for three months.
Public transport fares will also be halved for three months, which is likely to come into force from April 1.
Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) chairman Bernie O'Donnell told Breakfast although he appreciates the Government's efforts on petrol "it's just band aids, about just putting a sticker plaster on a festering sore".
MUMA, through Whānau Ora, kotahitanga and foodbank services, provides wrap-around support for struggling whānau.
O'Donnell said poverty's footprint is growing amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with MUMA now seeing working class poor, not just struggling beneficiaries.
"You watch the changing faces of what we call poverty and you start to worry," he said.
"We're seeing people now that have been working all their lives and who are beginning to struggle to make ends meet."
Benefits are going up in April, with main benefits increasing by more than 3%. The Winter Energy Payment is also starting again in May and ends in October.
O'Donnell rejected comments the country was experiencing a cost of living "crisis", stating: "Our communities especially [Māori and Pasifika] have lived below the breadline for decades, some would say since Rogernomics.
"We've had to deal with poverty every day, for decades. It's inter-generational. Some of our whānau don't know anything different. They were born into it and they're still there.
The fuel tax decrease will come into effect 11.59pm on Monday and public transport from April 1.
"When someone says this is a crisis, I want to know why all of a sudden it's a crisis because we've talking about this for years."
O'Donnell felt the Government needed to address more than just fuel prices. He said rising rent and food prices also needed to be tackled, saying takeaways were cheaper than the supermarket for many families.
Not only was 5+ A Day out of reach for many, but 70% of people's income was being spent on rent, O'Donnell said.
"Somehow we've got to change this. I know the Government does its best in terms of just trying to, as I say, apply band aids to a festering sore, but there has to be something cataclysmic, if you like, that has to change."
O'Donnell told Breakfast a plan like Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 was needed to address poverty.
“We have to draw a line in the sand and say this is no longer acceptable.”
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