News

Collective calls to be declared an essential service for fuel

The Family Start Collective calls on the Government to declare in-home child and whānau support services essential amid rising fuel costs.

Published on:
May 7, 2026

A service that works with vulnerable children and their whanau is calling on Oranga Tamariki and the Government to declare it an essential service in the event of fuel rationing. With the Prime Minister and Shane Jones hinting in recent days that more details will be released around that soon, The Family Start Collective is concerned they've been fobbed off. They say rising fuel costs are forcing providers to scale back critical in-home support, especially as they can travel up to 500 kilometres a week to support remote communities. Jaye Wainui is from KiriKiriroa Family Service Trust, which is part of that Collective and spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

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Source: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2019034082/collective-calls-to-be-declared-an-essential-service-for-fuel