Minister must apologise over 8000 food grant blunder - Labour MP

Labour says Social Development Minister Louise Upston needs to explain herself and apologise after more than 8000 applications for emergency food support were declined using a code saying food was not an essential need.

Pacific Labour MP Tangi Utikere says Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also needs to demand answers from his minister over the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) error.

Speaking with William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Utikere, of Cook Islands descent, stopped short of calling for Upston to be sacked. But he said she needed to take responsibility for what happened.

“She hasn't apologised. She's throwing her officials under the bus. That is completely unacceptable.”

Utikere said Luxon should ask Upston to explain what happened but then linked the issue to the Government's use of urgency.

“But of course, this is what you get when the government seeks to pass their laws under urgency,” he said.

Emergency food support helps people and families facing hardship put food on the table. Photo/Healthy Families

His comments come after MSD confirmed it had used the wrong decline code for more than 8000 Special Needs Grant applications for food over six years.

The ministry has called it an administrative error while saying the incorrect code did not necessarily mean the underlying decisions were wrong.

Utikere said the issue was particularly serious because the grants are intended to help people facing urgent hardship.

The Ministry of Social Development used an incorrect decline code for more than 8,000 Special Needs Grant applications for food. Photo/PMN News/Candice Ama

“Here we have many people who desperately need hardship assistance by way of food grants, effectively tossed to the side and the minister who's responsible not being anywhere around it.”

He linked the issue to another recent government error involving the winter energy payment for pensioners and veterans.

“There are some senses of commonality here and all the roads lead back to Louise Upston.”

Utikere was asked directly whether Labour wanted Luxon to sack the minister.

“What he needs to do is he needs to get in touch with her and ask her, please explain, and she needs to apologise to the community.”

Upston has defended the Government's response, pointing to funding for food support and the continued availability of Special Needs Grants.

Social Development Minister Louise Upston has defended the Government's response and pointed to continued food support and Budget 2026 funding. Photo/RNZ

“MSD continues to provide Special Needs Grants for food to hundreds of thousands of eligible New Zealanders.”

She has also pointed to $45 million in Budget 2026 funding for community food support for people in the highest need.

The Salvation Army’s Nicki Dutton said the wording used by MSD was difficult to understand for people already struggling to put food on the table.

“I think telling anybody that is struggling to find enough food to eat that food is not an essential item is hard to understand,” she told 1News. “I don't believe that an admin error for so many people is reasonable.”

The MSD issue was the strongest point of difference in Utikere's latest interview. But he also defended Labour's election campaign after recent polling put the party on 25.9 per cent.

He said Labour was focused on winning every party vote and rejected suggestions the party was being overtaken by smaller parties.

Watch Tangi Utikere's full interview below.

“If you want to change this government, you must give your party vote to Labour.”

Utikere also pointed to Labour's plans for a targeted capital gains tax, three free general practitioner (GP) visits each year for people with a MediCard, cheaper public transport and free prescriptions as evidence of a difference between Labour and National.

The interview also touched on new education data showing regular attendance among Pacific students has risen sharply since 2022 while their reported sense of belonging at school has fallen.

Utikere welcomed the attendance gains but said the drop in belonging showed getting Pacific students into school was only part of the challenge.