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Carmel Jean Sepuloni (born 1977)[1] is a New Zealand politician who served as the 20th deputy prime minister of New Zealand. A member of the Labour Party, she was first elected to Parliament in 2008 for a three-year term as a list Member of Parliament (MP) and was re-elected as MP for Kelston in 2014. In 2023, she was elected as the deputy leader of the Labour Party, succeeding Kelvin Davis.

Key Information

Sepuloni is New Zealand's first MP of Tongan descent.[2] She was a senior minister in the Sixth Labour Government under Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, holding office as Minister for Social Development throughout the government's term and additionally serving as Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Minister for ACC, Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Minister for Disability Issues and Minister for Pacific Peoples. She became deputy prime minister in January 2023 when the Labour leadership switched to Chris Hipkins.[3]

Early years

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Sepuloni was born and raised in Waitara, Taranaki, and attended New Plymouth Girls' High School.[4] Her father was a Samoan-Tongan migrant freezing worker, who migrated to New Zealand without being able to speak English, and "staunch unionist" and her mother was a Pākehā from a conservative farming family.

She moved to Auckland in 1996 to attend the Auckland College of Education and University of Auckland where she attained a Diploma of Teaching (Primary) and a Bachelor of Education, respectively. She also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Education. Sepuloni worked as a teacher in Samoa and in alternative education programmes in Auckland. Later, she worked as an equity manager and a research project manager in Pacific health at the University of Auckland.[5][6]

She has two sons.[7][8] She married writer and musician Daren Kamali in November 2018.[9]

Member of Parliament

[edit]
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2008–2011 49th List 35 Labour
2014–2017 51st Kelston 29 Labour
2017–2020 52nd Kelston 8 Labour
2020–2023 53rd Kelston 8 Labour
2023–present 54th Kelston 3 Labour

First term, 2008–2011

[edit]

Sepuloni came to Parliament in the 2008 general election having successfully stood as a list-only candidate for the New Zealand Labour Party. She had been involved in the party for only a year and a half before being elected.[10] Sepuloni's position at 35th on the party list, and the promotion of other new candidates, was cited by The New Zealand Herald as an effort by the Labour Party to "inject new faces" and increase the party's ethnic diversity.[11]

After the election, Sepuloni became Labour's spokesperson for civil defence and associate spokesperson for tertiary education and social development.[10] In her maiden speech, Sepuloni said, "I've learned through my own experiences and the experiences of others around me, that our young in particular can quickly begin to self-stigmatise when the media and society stigmatise them. When the media only portrays a picture of a ghettoised, poverty-stricken group of trouble makers, then our youth can resign themselves to the fact that this is what they are. They may even take pride in this prescribed image, because it provides them with a level of attention and status which although negative, is attention and status nonetheless."

In June 2010, Sepuloni's Employment Relations (Probationary Period Repeal) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot. A bill to repeal the changes to probationary employment contained in the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2008,[12] it was defeated at its first reading 64 votes to 57.[13]

2011 election loss

[edit]

On 19 March 2010, Sepuloni was selected as the Labour candidate for the Waitakere electorate in the 2011 general election, facing incumbent National MP and Cabinet minister Paula Bennett. In April 2011, she was ranked number 24 on the party's list for the election. On the election night preliminary count, she placed second in Waitakere, 349 votes behind Bennett, and with her list ranking was set not to be returned to Parliament. When the official results were released on 10 December 2011, Sepuloni had received sufficient special votes to win Waitakere and defeat Bennett by eleven votes.[14] Bennett requested a judicial recount and on 17 December regained her seat with a nine-vote majority, removing Sepuloni from Parliament.[15][16] This was not before the Labour Party leadership election on 13 December, in which she participated as a member-elect of the Labour caucus and supported David Cunliffe.[17]

Not long after leaving Parliament Sepuloni travelled to Egypt to participate as a short-term observer on the NDI International Election Mission. Prior to being reelected, Sepuloni was employed as the chief executive of Vaka Tautua, an Auckland-based Pacific disability, mental health, and social services provider.[18]

Second term, 2014–2017

[edit]

During the 2014 general election, Sepuloni stood as Labour's candidate in the Kelston electorate in Auckland, winning by a majority of 15,091 votes.[19] She served as Labour's social development spokesperson under new Labour leader Andrew Little, although she was temporarily stood down from that role in 2015 after her mother was charged with benefit fraud;[20][21] her mother was subsequently sentenced to four and a half months of home detention for illegally receiving benefits totalling $34,000.[22]

Government minister, 2017–2023

[edit]

During the 2017 general election, Sepuloni stood again in her Kelston seat, returning to Parliament with a majority of 16,789 votes. Following Labour's formation of a coalition government with New Zealand First and the Greens,[23] Sepuloni was elected as a Cabinet minister by the Labour Party caucus. She was subsequently appointed as minister of social development and disability issues as well as associate minister for Pacific Peoples, and arts, culture & heritage.[24]

On 28 April 2018, Sepuloni issued a statement criticising Work and Income for turning away a homeless woman who was trying to apply for a benefit after being discharged from hospital.[25] As social development minister, Sepuloni likened her Government's approach to welfare reform to "trying to turn a jumbo jet in mid-air."[26]

On 22 July 2020, Sepuloni was appointed as minister for ACC following the resignation of Iain Lees-Galloway, who admitted to having an "inappropriate relationship" with a former staffer.[27][28]

Sepuloni (left) and Chris Hipkins (right), after being sworn in as deputy prime minister and prime minister, by the governor-general, Dame Cindy Kiro, at Government House, Wellington, on 25 January 2023

During the 2020 general election held on 17 October, Sepuloni was re-elected in Kelston by a final margin of 15,660 votes, retaining the seat for Labour.[29] In early November, she retained her previous ministerial portfolios for social development, disability issues, and ACC, while also becoming the minister for employment and arts, culture and heritage.[30] She vacated the disability issues portfolio in June 2022.[31]

On 22 January 2023, incoming prime minister Chris Hipkins confirmed Sepuloni as his deputy prime minister.[32] She is the first Pasifika deputy prime minister and third woman to hold the role.[5] On her promotion to deputy prime minister, Sepuloni dropped the ACC portfolio and became the associate foreign affairs minister responsible for the Pacific region.[33] She additionally became Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety and Minister for Auckland on 21 June 2023, following the resignation of Michael Wood from cabinet.[34]

Fifth term, 2023–present

[edit]

Sepuloni retained her Kelston electorate at the 2023 New Zealand general election by a margin of 4,396 votes despite Labour losing the election to the National Party.[35]

On 7 November 2023, Sepuloni was elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party during a leadership vote.[36] In early November 2023, along with the National Party's foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee, she represented New Zealand at the 2023 Pacific Islands Forum.[37] She also attended a leaders' retreat in Aitutaki.[38]

In late November 2023, she became Deputy Leader of the Opposition and spokesperson for social development, Pacific Peoples, Auckland issues, and child poverty reduction in the Shadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins.[39] On 5 December 2023, Sepuloni was granted retention of the title The Honourable, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council.[40]

Following a cabinet reshuffle in early March 2025, Sepuloni retained the Pacific Peoples and Auckland Issues portfolios, and also gained the Women portfolio. She lost the social development and child poverty reduction portfolios.[41]

References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Carmel Sepuloni

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Carmel Jean Sepuloni (born 1977) is a politician of Samoan, Tongan, and European descent who has served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since November 2023 and as for Kelston since 2014. She first entered in a 2008 for West Coast-Tasman, lost her seat in 2011, and was re-elected in 2014. From January to October 2023, Sepuloni served as the 20th under Prime Minister , becoming the first person of Pacific heritage to hold the office. In government from 2017 to 2023, she held key portfolios including Minister for Social Development and Employment, where she oversaw welfare payment increases and the distribution of wage subsidies to businesses, as well as roles in issues and Pacific peoples' affairs. As Labour's current spokesperson for issues, women, and Pacific peoples, she continues to advocate on social welfare and community support policies from the opposition benches following the party's 2023 election defeat. No major controversies have defined her career, though her welfare-focused reforms have drawn debate over fiscal impacts amid 's economic challenges.

Early Life and Background

Family Heritage and Upbringing

Carmel Sepuloni was born in 1977 in Waitara, a provincial town in New Zealand's region. She grew up there in a working-class household shaped by her parents' backgrounds. Her father, Kamisi Sepuloni (also known as Fa'atali'i Kamisi Sepuloni), emigrated from the Pacific as a Samoan-Tongan migrant and worked as a freezing worker in 's meat processing industry; he arrived without proficiency in English and maintained strong union affiliations throughout his career. His heritage traces to the Samoan village of Vailele and Tongan roots, reflecting patterns of mid-20th-century Pacific migration to for labor opportunities. Her mother, Beverley, is (New Zealand European) from a rural farming , providing a contrast in cultural influences within the home. Sepuloni is the middle of three siblings in this blended environment. This upbringing in a migrant laborer family amid Taranaki's industrial and agricultural economy exposed Sepuloni to economic precarity common among Pacific communities in provincial during the late , including reliance on union protections and state welfare systems. Her mixed Samoan, Tongan, and European descent underscores the demographic diversity of 's at the time.

Education and Pre-Political Career

Sepuloni attended the Auckland College of Education, where she completed a and a of . She later obtained a while spending approximately ten years at the institution pursuing her studies in education. Before entering in 2008, Sepuloni worked as a teacher in and in programs in . In the tertiary sector, she served as a literacy educator, student mentor adviser, equity manager, and researcher focused on Pacific health issues. These roles emphasized support for Pacific communities and .

Parliamentary Trajectory

Initial Entry and First Term (2008–2011)

Sepuloni was elected to Parliament in the , held on 8 November 2008, as a list member of the Labour Party, ranked 35th on its party list. This entry marked her as New Zealand's first of Tongan descent, reflecting her partial Tongan heritage alongside Samoan and European ancestry. The Labour Party secured 43 seats in the 122-seat Parliament following the election, but entered opposition after the National Party-led coalition formed government under . As a junior list MP in opposition, Sepuloni served her initial term from late 2008 to 2011 without holding a senior portfolio. In 2010, she was appointed Labour's spokesperson for civil defence, a role aligned with her emerging focus on and Pacific affairs. Her parliamentary activities during this period emphasized backbench contributions, including advocacy for social equity issues informed by her pre-political experience in and Pacific community support roles. No major legislative initiatives or select committee leaderships are recorded from her first term, consistent with her status as a newcomer in a diminished opposition . In preparation for the 2011 election, Sepuloni was selected in March 2010 as Labour's candidate for the Waitakere electorate, a competitive urban seat in West previously held by Labour but won by National's in 2008. This shift from list-only candidacy in 2008 to contesting an electorate underscored Labour's strategy to leverage her local ties and Pasifika representation in a diverse constituency. Her term ended with the 2011 election defeat, after which she exited until 2014.

2011 Electoral Defeat

In the held on 26 November, Sepuloni contested the Waitakere electorate for the Labour Party against incumbent National MP , switching from her previous West Coast-Tasman base where resumed candidacy. On election night, Bennett led Sepuloni by 45 votes, with Bennett receiving 9,980 votes to Sepuloni's 9,935, reflecting National's national swing amid Labour's broader decline from 43 seats in 2008 to 34. Special votes, predominantly from urban and younger voters favoring left-leaning parties, shifted the preliminary official count released on 10 , giving Sepuloni a narrow of 11 votes (11,725 to Bennett's 11,714). This outcome drew immediate scrutiny due to discrepancies in ballot processing, prompting National to request a judicial recount under the Electoral Act 1993, overseen by District Court Judge JG Adams. The recount, completed and declared on 17 December, reversed the result again, confirming Bennett's victory by 34 votes (11,736 to Sepuloni's 11,702), attributed to corrected errors in 20 ballots during manual verification. Waitakere, a marginal seat with diverse working-class and Pasifika demographics, underscored the razor-thin margins in 2011, but Sepuloni's loss meant she did not secure an electorate win. Ranked 23rd on Labour's party list, she fell short of re-entering as the party's reduced seat allocation excluded lower list positions. This defeat marked the end of Sepuloni's initial parliamentary term, lasting from her 2008 by-election victory, amid Labour's national vote share dropping to 27.28% from 34% in 2008, influenced by economic recovery under National and internal Labour disarray. She returned to opposition activities outside Parliament until the 2014 election.

Return and Opposition Phase (2014–2017)

Sepuloni returned to in the 2014 New Zealand general election on 20 September, securing the newly established Kelston electorate—a west seat carved from portions of the former Waitakere constituency—with 15,091 votes, or 50.2% of valid ballots cast. Her opponent, National Party candidate Christopher Penk, received 9,724 votes (32.4%), yielding a of 5,367 votes amid a total turnout of 30,880 votes. This victory marked her re-entry after the narrow 2011 defeat in Waitakere, reflecting Labour's targeted efforts in diverse, working-class suburbs. In the ensuing 51st Parliament, with Labour in opposition under leaders and later Andrew Little, Sepuloni contributed to party organization as junior opposition whip, working alongside senior whip to coordinate caucus discipline and strategy. Her portfolio assignments emphasized scrutiny, including associate oversight of social development and related areas, where she advocated for reforms to address beneficiary challenges based on her prior sector experience. This positioned her to critique National government initiatives on welfare sanctions and Pacific support, arguing for systemic reductions in stigma without abrupt overhauls. Sepuloni retained Kelston in the 2017 election on 23 September, defeating National's Bala Beeram and bolstering Labour's west Auckland gains that facilitated the party's formation post-poll. Her opposition tenure highlighted a focus on equity for vulnerable groups, informed by her Tongan-Samoan heritage and firsthand knowledge of .

Ministerial Tenure (2017–2023)

Cabinet Appointments and Key Portfolios

Carmel Sepuloni was first appointed to the New Zealand Cabinet on 26 October 2017, shortly after the Labour-led coalition government was formed, as Minister for Social Development and Minister for Disability Issues. These roles positioned her at the helm of welfare policy and support for individuals with disabilities, reflecting her prior parliamentary focus on social services. Following the 2020 general election, Sepuloni's portfolio responsibilities broadened significantly. She retained Social Development, now styled as Minister for Social Development and Employment, and added Minister for the (ACC), Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, and Minister for Issues. In a 2022 reshuffle, the Disability Issues portfolio was transferred to , allowing Sepuloni to concentrate on her other duties amid ongoing government priorities. Sepuloni's tenure culminated in her elevation to on 25 January 2023, after Chris Hipkins succeeded Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister. In this capacity, she was sworn in alongside Hipkins and continued as Minister for Social Development and Employment and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, while also assuming oversight of Ministerial Services. This appointment marked her as the highest-ranking Pacific Island-descended politician in New Zealand's executive at the time. Her key portfolios emphasized social welfare administration, accident compensation reforms, and cultural policy, though her Social Development role drew particular scrutiny for its scale and fiscal implications.

Welfare and Social Development Initiatives

As Minister for Social Development from October 2017, Carmel Sepuloni established the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) on 28 May 2018 to provide independent recommendations for overhauling New Zealand's welfare system, emphasizing a shift from a compliance-focused model to one treating welfare as an in people. The WEAG's 2019 report advocated reducing benefit sanctions, indexing benefits to wages, and addressing by lifting main benefit rates, which informed subsequent reforms including the Social Security Legislation (Transformation) Bill passed in 2018 to simplify legislation and prioritize support over penalties. These changes aimed to reduce long-term reliance on benefits by improving , though implementation faced criticism for potentially entrenching dependency amid rising beneficiary numbers. Sepuloni oversaw substantial benefit uplifts, with Budget 2021 delivering the largest increases in decades: main benefits rose by an average of $40–$50 per week (e.g., Jobseeker Support by $39 and Sole Parent Support by $40), alongside reinstating the Training Incentive Allowance for tertiary study and indexing childcare assistance thresholds to wage growth. A Ministry of Social Development report released on 27 June 2023 indicated these measures, combined with prior adjustments since 2017, resulted in total incomes for main benefit recipients rising 48% after housing costs, benefiting around 39,000 sole-parent families with additional weekly income. Further indexing occurred in subsequent budgets, including a proposed 0.98% uplift in early 2023 to maintain against . In employment initiatives, Sepuloni expanded programs like Flexi-Wage, which subsidized employer wages for hiring beneficiaries, supporting 4,782 placements by mid-2021 to address skills gaps and facilitate transitions to sustainable work. The ministry reported a record 28,000 people moving from benefits to work in the year to March 2021, aided by targeted job-matching and business support during post-COVID recovery. Additional efforts included the Disability Employment Action Plan, launched under her tenure, to enhance workplace inclusion for disabled individuals through tailored and employer incentives. These programs prioritized beneficiary activation, though empirical outcomes showed mixed success in reducing overall welfare rolls amid economic pressures.

Pacific Peoples and Disability Policies

Sepuloni served as Minister for Pacific Peoples from October 2017 to November 2023, overseeing efforts to enhance economic and social outcomes for New Zealand's Pacific communities, which numbered approximately 420,000 people or 8.9% of the in the 2018 census. Her tenure emphasized workforce diversification and barrier reduction, including the launch of the Pacific Pathways initiative on May 30, 2022, aimed at increasing Pacific employment through targeted , entrepreneurship support, and addressing skills gaps in sectors like and . This built on the All-of-Government Pacific Wellbeing Strategy released on September 15, 2022, which sought to coordinate cross-agency actions for improved health, education, and economic prosperity by integrating Pacific perspectives into policy-making. However, independent analyses, such as the Salvation Army's 2024 State of the Nation report, indicated persistent challenges like higher Pacific rates (around 7.5% in 2023 versus the national 3.9%) and housing instability, with limited direct attribution to ministry interventions amid broader economic pressures. In parallel, as Minister for Issues from 2017 to 2023, Sepuloni prioritized systemic reform, announcing on October 29, 2021, the creation of a dedicated Ministry for Disabled People (Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People) to centralize support and drive policy coordination for New Zealand's estimated 1.2 million disabled individuals (24% of the population per 2013 data, with similar trends persisting). Budget 2022 allocated initial funding, including $11 million to expand access to and service coordination (NASC) services, alongside commitments to a new Disability Action Plan targeting eight outcomes such as improved and . These measures aimed to shift from siloed services to holistic support, with Cabinet updates on progress slated for early 2022. Empirical evaluations remained preliminary during her term, though subsequent critiques highlighted implementation delays and funding shortfalls under successor governments, with no comprehensive longitudinal data confirming sustained improvements in metrics like rates (which hovered at 50% for disabled people pre-2023) or reduced institutionalization. Sepuloni's approach integrated Pacific-specific disability needs, advocating for culturally responsive services within the wellbeing strategy, such as enhanced family violence prevention tailored to Pacific disabled . Official reports credited these policies with foundational steps toward , yet causal links to outcomes were constrained by confounding factors like the , which exacerbated vulnerabilities without clear policy-driven reversals in disparity metrics. Post-tenure assessments, including her own opposition statements, underscored ongoing gaps, such as in access, attributing them to reversed investments rather than inherent flaws in the original framework.

Deputy Prime Ministership and COVID-19 Response

![Chris Hipkins and Carmel Sepuloni swearing in as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister][float-right] Carmel Sepuloni was appointed of on 25 January 2023, following the resignation of Jacinda Ardern on 19 January 2023 and the subsequent election of as Labour Party leader on 18 January 2023. As the first person of Pacific Island heritage to hold the position, Sepuloni retained her portfolios in Social Development and , alongside responsibilities such as acting as during Hipkins' absences and representing in international forums, including attendance at Samoa's 61st Independence Anniversary celebrations. Her tenure as lasted until the Labour Party's defeat in the 23 October 2023 general election, after which the National-led coalition assumed office on 27 November 2023. In her role as Minister for Social Development and Employment prior to and during her Deputy Prime Ministership, Sepuloni played a key part in the social welfare dimensions of New Zealand's COVID-19 response, overseeing the rollout of wage subsidy schemes that supported businesses and workers during nationwide lockdowns from March 2020 onward. These subsidies, administered through the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), provided financial assistance to over 520,000 employers, covering approximately 1.8 million employees and preventing a projected surge in unemployment during the initial lockdown periods. She also chaired inter-ministerial committees focused on mitigating the pandemic's social impacts, including support for vulnerable groups such as Māori, Pacific, refugee, and migrant communities through targeted recovery initiatives. Sepuloni advocated for enhanced whānau support via the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, allocating additional funding in September 2021 to address -related needs in Pacific and families, emphasizing community-led resilience building. In response to emerging challenges, she supported the adaptation of leave schemes in early 2022, extending paid leave provisions to align with the transition to an endemic phase, which aimed to sustain workforce participation amid ongoing variants like . By her time as in 2023, the focus had shifted from acute response measures to long-term recovery, with Sepuloni contributing to parliamentary engagements on pandemic lessons learned, including consultations for the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Lessons Learned. Empirical data from the period indicated that these welfare interventions correlated with New Zealand's relatively low rates compared to peer nations, though fiscal costs exceeded NZ$14 billion for wage subsidies alone, prompting debates on sustainability absent from official narratives at the time.

Opposition Role (2023–Present)

Labour Deputy Leadership

Following Labour's electoral defeat on 14 October 2023, which reduced the party's seats from 64 to 34 in the 123-seat Parliament, the caucus convened to reaffirm leadership. On 7 November 2023, during a meeting in Upper Hutt, Carmel Sepuloni was elected deputy leader unopposed, succeeding Kelvin Davis who declined to continue in the role. Chris Hipkins was simultaneously confirmed as leader, signaling internal continuity despite the government's ousting by the National-led coalition. Sepuloni's elevation aligned her party position with her prior role as from January to October 2023, during which she had managed social development and Pacific peoples portfolios. In opposition, she assumed shadow spokesmanships for Auckland issues, women, and Pacific peoples, focusing critiques on policies affecting urban development, equity, and ethnic minority communities. This portfolio allocation reflected Labour's emphasis on retaining expertise in welfare and demographic-specific advocacy amid fiscal tightening under the incoming administration, which reversed several benefit expansions implemented during Sepuloni's ministerial tenure. As deputy leader, Sepuloni has supported Hipkins in parliamentary and strategy, contributing to Labour's repositioning for the 2026 election. Her role has involved public commentary on opposition priorities, such as welfare and Pacific economic disparities, drawing on empirical data from pre-2023 household surveys showing persistent inequality metrics despite prior interventions. By late 2025, she remained in the position, with no announced contests, underscoring stability post-defeat.

Recent Parliamentary Engagements

As Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Labour spokesperson for Social Development, Pacific Peoples, Women, Auckland Issues, and Child Poverty Reduction, Sepuloni has focused her parliamentary contributions on scrutinizing government policies related to welfare reforms, pay equity, and Pacific community support. In oral questions and debates, she has repeatedly challenged the coalition government's benefit adjustments and employment initiatives, arguing they undermine prior gains in social support systems. For instance, during the debate on the Social Security (Benefits Adjustment) and Income Tax (Minimum Tax Rate for Trusts) Amendment Bill on 15 February 2024, Sepuloni raised concerns about the lack of clarity in fiscal impacts on beneficiaries, emphasizing the need for data-driven assessments of policy changes. Throughout 2025, Sepuloni's engagements have intensified around pay equity and women's issues, with pointed questions to ministers highlighting disparities affecting women, who earn approximately 15 percent less than men. On 31 July 2025, she questioned the Minister for Women on a proposed 1 percent pay offer, framing it as an effective pay cut amid rising living costs. Similarly, on 17 July 2025, she pressed the same minister on commitments to pay equity, underscoring inconsistencies in actions. Her interventions often reference empirical wage gap data from , critiquing reversals of Labour-era settlements without alternative evidence-based remedies. Sepuloni has also addressed Pacific-specific policies, questioning the Minister for Pacific Peoples on 14 August 2025 about ongoing support endeavors and their alignment with community needs. On 20 August 2025, she extended this to broader social development, querying the integration of Pacific-focused measures within portfolios. More recently, on 22 October 2025, during oral questions, she engaged on critiques, linking them to broader economic pressures on vulnerable groups. These activities reflect her strategic use of parliamentary tools to advocate for evidence-supported continuity in social programs, drawing on departmental data to contest government narratives of fiscal restraint. Additionally, on 27 March 2025, she urged bipartisan collaboration on Resource Management Act reforms, prioritizing sustainable consensus over partisan divides.

Controversies and Policy Critiques

Welfare Dependency and Benefit Reforms

During her tenure as Minister for Social Development from 2017 to 2023, Carmel Sepuloni implemented policies emphasizing income support for beneficiaries, including a $25 weekly increase to main benefits effective April 2020, alongside shifting from (CPI) to average weekly earnings, resulting in annual adjustments exceeding 3 percent in subsequent years. These measures, part of the Labour government's response to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's 2019 recommendations, aimed to lift beneficiary households out of and reduce child hardship by boosting disposable incomes, with official reports indicating that main benefit recipients' after-housing costs incomes rose 48 percent in real terms from 2018 to 2023. However, Sepuloni's approach de-emphasized strict work obligations and sanctions, favoring "support over punishment" and administrative reforms like reducing re-application requirements, which critics argued softened incentives for . Opposition parties, including ACT and National, contended that these reforms exacerbated by making benefits more attractive relative to low-wage work, particularly as abatement rates and housing supplements were adjusted to minimize traps without corresponding boosts to mandates. Empirical data from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) showed main benefit recipients increasing from approximately 294,000 in mid-2017 to over 346,000 by mid-2023, with work-ready Jobseeker Support numbers rising by 15,663 despite post-COVID recovery in rates. ACT leader attributed this to Labour's "culture of ," noting 39,495 more people on main benefits than pre-COVID levels by March 2023, arguing that generous uplifts—totaling an average $109 weekly gain for 364,000 beneficiaries by 2022—discouraged workforce participation amid labor shortages. Sepuloni countered that rising numbers reflected economic shocks like and housing costs, not policy failure, and highlighted temporary drops such as 11.7 percent of working-age adults (368,172 people) on benefits in late 2021. Subsequent analyses under the incoming National-led reinforced critiques of long-term impacts, with MSD's Social Outcomes Model forecasting that youth under 25 on Jobseeker Support would spend an average 18-20 additional years in dependency compared to baselines—a 49 percent extension—due to entrenched non-employment pathways fostered by reduced sanctions and higher relative benefit levels. National's welfare platform explicitly linked Sepuloni-era expansions to a surge of nearly 60,000 more Jobseeker recipients versus , advocating stricter obligations to reverse what they described as a drag from able-bodied adults opting for benefits over work. While Sepuloni's defenders, including Labour advocates, emphasized that dependency narratives overlook barriers like conditions—evidenced by a 15.4 percent rise in health-related Jobseeker claims—the absence of rigorous causal evaluations in reporting left claims of reduced poverty traps unverified against disincentives. These debates underscored broader tensions between income adequacy and in New Zealand's welfare system.

Fiscal Impacts and Empirical Outcomes

During Carmel Sepuloni's tenure as Minister for Social Development from 2017 to 2023, New Zealand's working-age main benefit recipients, encompassing Jobseeker Support, Sole Parent Support, and Supported Living Payment, stood at 203,773 as of June 2017. By June 2023, this figure had risen, with monthly updates indicating ongoing increases of around 1.1% in recipient numbers amid policy shifts toward reduced conditionality and enhanced support services. These trends contributed to elevated welfare rolls, peaking at approximately 354,700 recipients in early 2021 during the response before partial declines. Fiscal costs escalated under the Labour government's welfare initiatives, including the 2019 Welfare Overhaul, which involved substantial 2021-2022 investments in reducing sanctions, indexing benefits to wage growth rather than inflation, and expanding support like reduction measures. Overall core social security and welfare expenditure formed a significant portion of the government's spending surge, with total outlays expanding from NZ$76 billion annually in 2017 to NZ$139 billion by 2023—a near-doubling driven partly by welfare enhancements and relief. Historical analyses frame this as a "spending spree" exceeding pre-election forecasts by wide margins, with cumulative increases reaching NZ$77.4 billion over five years, amplifying long-term fiscal pressures amid rising . Empirically, outcomes showed limited success in reducing dependency despite policy emphases on voluntary engagement over sanctions. Ministry of Social Development modeling post-tenure revealed that 626,000 recent beneficiaries were projected to spend an additional 6.43 million collective years on payments, indicating prolonged welfare spells even after economic recovery. Child material hardship rates, a key target, rose sharply under Labour, with Stats NZ data reflecting higher proportions of children in families lacking essentials by 2023 compared to 2017 baselines, undermining claims of transformative poverty alleviation. Critics, including analyses from the New Zealand Initiative, attribute persistent high recipient numbers—12% of the working-age population—to softened work incentives and inadequate focus on employment transitions, yielding fiscal burdens without commensurate reductions in long-term reliance.

Political Rhetoric and Misleading Claims

Sepuloni, as Minister for Social Development from 2017 to 2023, frequently emphasized successes in transitioning beneficiaries into , claiming in January 2024 that her government's approach supported more people off benefits and into work "than ever before." This assertion was disputed by opponents, who highlighted that net working-age main benefit recipients rose from 284,154 in June 2017 to 314,045 by June 2023, per Ministry of Social Development (MSD) data, reflecting higher overall dependency amid population growth and economic pressures like COVID-19. Critics, including National's , argued such rhetoric masked structural failures, as long-term receipt projections under Labour showed increased future dependency risks, with thousands projected to spend decades on benefits. On , Sepuloni asserted in September 2020 that Labour had lifted 18,000 children out of since taking office, framing it as evidence of policy efficacy. However, Stats NZ's 2025 report revealed stalled rates, with material hardship affecting 156,000 children—missing all government targets set under the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018—and some measures showing no improvement or slight increases after housing costs. This discrepancy arose partly from reliance on after-tax income metrics that critics deemed selective, ignoring broader hardship indicators like rising emergency housing grants from $81 million in March 2018 to $128.5 million by March 2019. Sepuloni's narrative often attributed shortfalls to prior National policies rather than evaluating causal impacts of initiatives like the Winter Energy Payment, which empirical reviews linked to modest but non-transformative outcomes. In the 2022 Northland lockdown controversy, Sepuloni's parliamentary response to Written Question 46902 referenced "false information supplied" as justification for administrative decisions on support payments, amid a that erroneously approved permits, triggering an 11-day regional lockdown. Official Information Act responses from MSD, overseen by Sepuloni, were later criticized for rebuffing inquiries on false grounds, as the "false information" pertained to permit approvals rather than claims, leading to accusations of that eroded public trust in lockdown-related welfare disbursements. Such instances underscore a pattern where Sepuloni's defenses prioritized departmental narratives over transparent data reconciliation, as noted in Auditor-General reports on related welfare administration s during her tenure.

References

  1. https://www.labour.org.nz/our-team/hon-carmel-sepuloni/
  2. https://keywiki.org/Carmel_Sepuloni
  3. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/23/who-is-carmel-sepuloni-new-zealand-first-pasifika-pacific-deputy-pm-prime-minister
  4. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131030608/who-is-new-deputy-prime-minister-carmel-sepuloni
  5. https://newsroom.co.nz/2018/02/18/carmel-sepuloni-rebuilding-the-social-safety-net
  6. https://www.labour.org.nz/our-team/
  7. https://www.metromag.co.nz/society/the-westie-carmel-sepuloni
  8. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131080976/carmel-sepuloni-from-high-school-truant-to-deputy-prime-minister
  9. https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/01/22/the-girl-from-waitara-carmel-sepuloni-makes-history/
  10. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/482901/carmel-sepuloni-new-zealand-s-new-deputy-prime-minister
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