19-year-old Platnym Walker-Kara (Tai Tokerau, Tai Rāwhiti) says she doesn’t want to be on the Job Seekers benefit but has had no luck finding secure full-time work.
“You’re competing with 100 other people for one job.
“How am I supposed to get work experience when you’re not giving me work?”
The government has passed legislation under urgency to put a stop to all 18- to 19-year-olds receiving the Job Seeker benefit if their parents earn over $67,225 per annum, which will come into effect November 2026.
Although Walker-Kara will soon turn 20, she fears that people her age won’t get the same support from their whānau.
“I just think that this is just another really mean attack on rangatahi”.
“What are we supposed to do? Especially rangatahi who are 18 and 19 that don’t have relationships with their parents or don’t have any whānau that are able to support them. It’s sad because then you’ve got to think about, well, then what happens to them?” she says.
Walker-Kara believes that being defined as an adult legally should provide the age group support when they need it.
“Right now, the government considers us adults at 18... We can legally sign tenancies on households at 17, but at 18 and 19, they’re expecting us to still financially depend on our parents”.
Unemployment at its worst in a decade
According to Stats NZ, New Zealand’s national unemployment rate was 5.6% in the June 2026 quarter, its highest level since 2014.
Te Ao Māori News asked Louise Upston, the Minister for the Ministry of Social Development and Employment, to comment on the work available to young people.
“What we do know is the job market is improving. We’ve seen job ads increasing each quarter and more people in employment, which is really positive. That’s what you’ll expect will happen when the economy is growing,” she says.
The data shows large increases in underutilisation for youth and Māori, with the rate for 15 to 24-year-olds rising from 33.6 percent to 37.0 percent over the year to the June 2026 quarter.
In the June 2026 quarter, Māori unemployment reached 10.8%, almost twice the national rate.
“I do accept that Māori are disproportionately represented in the Job Seeker statistics; that’s why it’s really important for us to focus on growing the economy and growing the number of jobs available,” says Upston.
Support for Rangatahi estranged from whānau
Upston said young people with an “irreconcilable breakdown” in family relationships would be helped by the MSD, but did not outline what it would look like.
Mia Tepania from Mā Te Huruhuru says she believes that the change could force some young people to stay in harmful environments to get by, saying it is already hard for young people in her line of work to access the support they need.
“We’ll be starting to normalise abuse because there’s no support available.”
“What we are seeing is a huge increase in Muslim families and people who are trying to find safety from cultural harm... this is not just for Māori, this is not just for Pākeha, this is for a diverse Aotearoa,”.
Tepania says many of the young adults that come through Mā Te Huruhuru have been brought up through Oranga Tamariki or raised without their parents.
“They need to be able to confidently access support. Removing what’s currently in place is going to create a whole new social need that I don’t think this policy has foresight for at this stage,” she says.
Walker-Kara’s hope now is that there will be consideration to reverse the legislation.
“I hope it gets re-looked at; honestly, I hope it gets reassessed.
“It’s making it very, very hard for rangatahi to look at the government and say, ‘We trust you with taking care of us.’
