Auditor-General says abrupt child welfare funding cuts were "unacceptable"

Briefly in the news from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, May 16:

• Auditor General John Ryan issued a scathing report yesterday into Oranga Tamariki’s abrupt and surprising cancellation and clawback last year of $60 million of funding for social services organisations, describing the agency’s (virtually nil) planning and communication as “unacceptable.” See Quote of the Day below

• MBIE quietly suspended applications for its $55 million per year Endeavour public research fund for 2025/26 yesterday,¹ adding to concerns about the also quiet abandonment of the Government’s goal of nearly doubling New Zealand’s R&D spend to 2% of GDP in the 10 years to 2028². See Chart of the Day below

• Transpower has warned in a draft annual consultation document ³ that generation capacity next winter (2026) is less than the minimum required to avoid dry-winter blackouts because not enough new wind and solar farms have been built, and there’s less gas supply than expected.⁴ See more in Today’s Pick ‘n’ Mix Six

• Butter prices rose 65.3% in the year to April, Stats NZ reported yesterday in partial inflation indicators data for April. See more in Number of the Day below.

• ACC Minister Scott Simpson has suggested ACC may abandon or legislate away its responsibility to compensate victims of sexual abuse. This followed a Court of Appeal ruling in December 2023 confirming victims of sexual abuse were entitled to compensation for lost earnings from when they were abused, rather than when they came forward for treated. That created a $3.6 billion liability for ACC in its 2024 accounts, which Simpson wants to remove, Tom Pullar-Strecker reports this morning for The Post-$⁵.

• The Government has ruled out increasing its $521 per year KiwiSaver payment in next week’s Budget, and may even raise the default contribution rate from 3% to 5% in way that would further reduce disposable incomes for those that don’t opt out, Jenee Tibshraeny reports this morning for The NZ Herald-$.⁶

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