Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

More than 200 security incidents at WINZ offices

By Allison Hess
Junior reporter - digital·Bay of Plenty Times·
9 Feb, 2017 10:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

More than 200 security incidents took place in Tauranga WINZ offices in the last three years. Photo/file

More than 200 security incidents took place in Tauranga WINZ offices in the last three years. Photo/file

More than 200 security incidents have been reported at Work and Income offices over the past three years in the Western Bay.

Following the Ashburton tragedy in September 2014, security incidents rocketed - from 50 in that financial year to 87 in the year following the shooting.

In 2015/16 there were 72 reported incidents, ranging from minor to critical in the Tauranga, Katikati, Te Puke and Mount Maunganui offices.

The figures were obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times through the Official Information Act. Since 2014 there have been six minor incidents, 174 moderate, 28 serious and one critical.

"Critical" incidents were the most severe, and included death, serious injury requiring hospitalisation and bomb threats or arson.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Serious" incidents included physical harm that required medical treatment, threats made with an intention to harm, stalking or intimidation of staff.

"Moderate" incidents included assaults where there was no injury, aggression or abuse.

Bay of Plenty regional commissioner for social development Mike Bryant said a hike in security incidents was largely because staff were reporting more.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Post-Ashburton our staff are escalating incidents, as we can no longer consider many day-to-day incidents as simple idle threats.

"We need to make it clear that threatening behaviour is not okay," he said.

He said Work and Income staff did more than 1000 face-to-face interviews per week in the Western Bay. Staff were trained to treat people with respect and expected the same from clients.

The impact on staff was way beyond just numbers on paper, Mr Bryant said.

Security measures were in place, such as open plan offices, controlled access and security guards on site.

Spokesman for NZ Beneficiaries and Unemployed Workers Union Miles Lacey said most of the people who lashed out at staff were not thugs or bullies but people who cracked under strain.

He said it was hard to pin down a specific reason for abusive behaviour but it could be related to "endless bureaucratic hurdles", communication failure or mental health issues.

He said the benefit system was increasingly punitive and people had to "jump through endless bureaucratic hurdles just to keep their benefit".

Tommy Wilson, of Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services, said people wanted to know they were cared about before anything else.

"All violence comes from anger, all anger comes from fear and all fear comes from not knowing or understanding. This is the cycle of what you see manifest itself at Winz offices."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Winz staff did not have the luxury of time and it was a daunting environment for clients to go into when they knew it was their last chance - "if they walk out with nothing, they've got nothing to go home to".

Mr Wilson said Winz needed to work out "why these people react the way they do and not work out how you punish them for acting that way".

NZ Beneficiaries and Unemployed Workers Union tips for frustrated clients
- Always go to interviews with the information requested by Work and Income. It will avoid delays and lost paperwork.
- Be prepared to negotiate or compromise.
- If you are angry because your benefit has been stopped or because you have been declined assistance ask the case manager to explain why in plain terms.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

04 Jul 02:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Bay of Plenty Times

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

04 Jul 12:24 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

04 Jul 02:00 AM

Peter was trapped under a tractor for hours on his Mangakino farm.

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

04 Jul 12:24 AM
Traffic concerns grow as Tauriko roading developments advance

Traffic concerns grow as Tauriko roading developments advance

03 Jul 11:48 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP