Media Statement
22 August 2007

Loan sharks don’t fear Judith Tizard

Loan sharks who target vulnerable Pacific consumers in Manukau City must be elated at the lack of response, from the Minister of Consumer Affairs, to a damning report into the behaviour of fringe lenders in Manukau City.

That is the view expressed by Manurewa Community Board member Daniel Newman, who attended the launch of the qualitative research report: Pacific Consumers’ Behaviour and Experience in Credit Markets, with Particular Reference to the ‘Fringe Lending’ Market. The research was commissioned by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs in 2006 and conducted by the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland.

“Judith Tizard’s forlorn lack of response to the release of the report into the practice and effects of loan sharks operating in Manukau City sends a clear message to vulnerable Pacific families: “you’re on your own”. No other message can be taken from the Minister’s apparent lack of interest in this issue.

“Not only is Ms Tizard the Minister of Consumer Affairs, she is also the Minister responsible for Auckland Issues. Here is a damning report, which contains the stories and reflections of dozens of Pacific consumers who have been manipulated, bullied and threatened by low-life loan sharks who operate at the margins of the lending market. While the report is crammed full of honest and disturbing reflections from the victims of loan sharks, the government’s response is tissue thin by comparison.

“Manukau City returned Labour to government in 2005. Pacific people represent one of the core Labour Party constituencies. I think those same people are right to question why a Minister from their own government has so little to say about an issue that is causing misery to so many Pacific families,” Daniel Newman said.

The research published and released last week challenges the notion that, if certain information is available through improved disclosure, consumers will use it to make informed decisions and shop around for more competitive lines of credit. The research explores the crisis experienced by impoverished Pacific consumers, who are exposed to social and cultural obligations, and who are susceptible to the behaviour of loan sharks.

“Judith Tizard appears to think that more information, the distribution of pamphlets, and a slow-time review of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act is going to be enough to solve the problem of loan sharks who target impoverished Pacific families. This weak response contradicts the proposed solutions spelt it by the very people who are falling victim to the oppressive practices of loan sharks.

“As responses go, the Minister, on behalf of her government, appears not to be interested in dealing with a crisis that is occurring right here, right now, on the streets and in the home throughout Manukau City,” Daniel Newman said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media