On Queensland’s Gold Coast jobless and homeless Kiwis are handed sleeping bags and tents and told to find a spot to pitch camp. Often, this is the best social agencies can do to help.
With no access to the dole or other support, and with high truancy rates as teenagers give up and drop out of school, social agencies have reported rising numbers of New Zealand and Pacific Islander youths trapped by homelessness, teen pregnancies, depression and anti-social behaviour.
In Melbourne’s northwest the jobless rate for 15- to 19-year-olds is more than 50 per cent. In western Sydney the rate runs up to 28 per cent, and it’s 33 per cent on the Sunshine Coast.
Nationally, youth unemployment is about 24 per cent.
Taoirangi, a New Zealander, has been forced to sleep at the back of Pinaroo Park, on the Sunshine Coast.
“I’ve been here since 2008. “The kids who hang around can give us a hard time even when we’re trying to have a discreet drink and a barbie.”
His personal possessions are stuffed in a shopping trolley left at a shelter in the park. He said there were no housing options for him except a seven-year wait for a secure roof.
“If you’ve got a black name then they don’t do nothing for you.”
Suicide rates are rising. And many are living on the streets, turning to crime to survive.
Queensland agencies dealing with youth crime and children at risk of abuse or neglect have noted “significant” rises in Maori and Pacific Islander cases. In some areas, such as south Brisbane and Mt Druitt in western Sydney, they account for more than 20 per cent of police caseloads.
For those whose luck turns bad, life turns nasty. They have no access to disability and other payments, and if they lose their jobs can only fall back on charity. In one extreme case cited by New Zealand advocate David Faulkner, a young father who lost his job was referred by the Salvation Army to government agencies for help. Their response was to take his three young children into care.
Even if they have work, finding a home can be hard. In Townsville Pacific Islanders face hurdles erected by the lack of tenancy histories, no Australian ID, blacklisting, and discrimination by real estate agencies.
On the Gold Coast the Wesley Mission said many Kiwis were struggling to meet housing costs, were often jobless or confined to part-time jobs, and often living in overcrowded housing. Family breakdowns and violence were major problems.
Aid agencies including St Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army have united to give financial help to keep Kiwis from homelessness.
Vicky Va’aa, a Pacific Islander advocate on the Gold Coast told the two countries’ Productivity Commissions the Nerang Neighbourhood Centre was giving food parcels to about 120 New Zealanders a week. The service was now at risk because of Queensland Government budget cuts.
The number of young Kiwis seeking help from the Gold Coast Youth Service had doubled in the past two years: “Support offered can generally only include a food parcel, sleeping bag and a tent.”
On the Sunshine Coast, Adrienne Heppel has set up New Zealand House with the Brisbane Anglican Maori Mission. The self-funded facility helps the disabled and the homeless, among others.
“We’re just inundated with requests for assistance every which way,” Mrs Heppel said. Students were also struggling. “They can’t afford rent and they can’t afford food” so they had to choose between the two.
Through despair or necessity, expat Kiwi children are dropping out of school at alarming rates. Many are forced to leave at 16, when family aid benefits expire, while others take on shift work to help support their families, affecting their performance.
The politics have changed little from the flow that took Kiwis from automatic rights of permanent residency to a separate class of migrants isolated from safety nets and educational and other opportunities.
As far back as the 1970s immigration officials believed visas should be introduced for Kiwis to control the tide of transtasman migration that began rising in the late 1960s and gathered pace each time the New Zealand economy took a battering.
Media painted Kiwis as bludgers on Australia’s generosity, despite evidence to the contrary.
Sympathy for New Zealanders was further undermined by a series of tensions, including violent protests against the use of wide combs by Kiwi shearers and the Anzus split that fuelled Australian perceptions of a cheapskate neighbour hiding behind its expensive military skirts, and a deep, wider sense of betrayal.
The cancellation of two of four planned Anzac frigates added to Australian anger, reflected in former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating’s comment that he was “tired of New Zealand taking the scrapings from Australia’s plate”, and Labor’s cancellation without notice of a common transtasman aviation market.
But at the heart of Australian concerns were the rising costs of expat Kiwi welfare payments, the unpredictability of an uncontrolled migrant flow, and the “backdoor” migration of Pacific Islanders and Hong Kong Chinese after gaining NZ citizenship.
Australia had for years also tried to convince New Zealand to align the two countries’ immigration policies.
In 1994 Australia introduced Special Category Visas for New Zealanders, classing all subsequent arrivals as temporary residents, albeit with the right to stay indefinitely.
In February 2001 life changed entirely for Kiwi migrants. After its failure to create a common immigration policy, and New Zealand’s refusal to reimburse the cost of all social security payments made to Kiwis, Australia introduced its new welfare rules.
This was despite statistics showing expat Kiwis paid A$2.5 billion in tax, against A$1 billion in social security outlays. Australia was reckoned to gain a net A$3000 for each New Zealander living there.
Australia has painted the 2001 changes as part of its social security deal with New Zealand, a false argument repeated by government agencies and even in court hearings.
The joint communique issued at the time, and statements later by former Prime Minister Helen Clark, clearly show that the new rules were a unilateral move by Australia.
Exclusion from benefits on the basis of nationality has been taken to the extreme in Queensland, which has introduced amendments to its anti-discrimination laws blocking legal action by New Zealanders. Australia says the 2001 changes have created equality for all migrants and are ” not inconsistent with [its] … human rights obligations”.
Size doesn’t seem to matter
New Zealanders and Australians account for about 2 per cent of each other’s population, according to the two countries’ Productivity Commissions. But similar relative sizes are not reflected in the treatment of transtasman communities.
Australians in New Zealand
New Zealanders in Australia
(on non-protected special category visas)
A three-part Herald series
Today: When the dream turns sour
Tomorrow: Held back by Aussie law
Wednesday: Victories against discrimination
By Michael Dickison and Greg Ansley
Article: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10858931
Ask them below in the ‘reply’ section and I will get back to you asap. You might also find the answers in the questions other visitors have asked.
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Kenneth Hetariki Williams
September 17, 2024 at 3:44 pmI’m a 55yr old Kiwi living on the streets Australia with no support at all I have been robbed by a knife to my throat I have been drugged on multiple occasions I have been beaten I have PTSD, Anxiety strees and more my email , Facebook has been hacked pls help
JJ Smith
September 19, 2024 at 1:18 pmHi Kenneth,
I’m really sorry to hear your move to Australia has ended up so terribly.
As you would know, the Australian government will not help you financially and unfortunately neither will the New Zealand government. New Zealanders overseas have no right or claim to financial help from the New Zealand Government.
Who may be able to help? Family and charities.
Staff at the New Zealand High Commission Canberra or consulates in Australia can contact your family and friends on your behalf to ask for help if you give them permission to do so.
They can also give you information about local charities that may help you.
Contact the New Zealand High Commission Canberra and consulates in Australia: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/countries-and-regions/australia-and-pacific/australia/new-zealand-high-commission-to-australia.
Do you have an super? As your Superannuation company might be able to help!
If you have paid into superannuation during your time in Australia, you can contact your superannuation company to ask if you can access some of that money as a hardship payment.
Sorry I couldn’t be of further help. My prayers are with you.
Antony Milich
July 2, 2024 at 4:39 pmHello ever since the pandemic my life has become a shadow of its former self I’m homeless and have lost everything including access to my son which is the only reason I’m here in Sydney is there I’ve been here since 2011 was promised help jobkeeper was assured of help I have the evidence then hung out to dry .also zero help from the floods have have my ATO and my gov hacked and plundered no one wants to help listen or even cares do you know anyone who can help.kind regards Antony