Attendants at a Green Party discussion on inequality on Thursday night were moved by the plight of a single mother struggling to get by on minimum wage while studying.
Organiser Philip McConkey said the woman shared her story with a panel of speakers on Thursday evening.
She talked about "the realities of a single parent working on minimum wage, part-time, while at the same time she's trying to study to be a nurse".
"She was unable to continue her talk because she was just too upset."
The discussion, with speakers MP Jan Logie, Sue Bradford, and Living Wage NZ's Lyn Williams, was about the "potential solutions" for inequality.