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The Budget shows a slow and steady economic recovery, but that should not be the extent of our ambition. We need more urgent attention given to poverty and recovery of social wellbeing, says the Auckland Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. While the Government is moving towards implementation of some recommendations of the advisory group Read more
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New Zealand needs a greater commitment to measuring the children’s well-being say New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops. Responding to the release of the UNICEF Innocenti report into Child well-being in rich countries, Archbishop John Dew, speaking on behalf of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, said it was a matter of concern that New Zealand does Read more
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The Salvation Army’s 2013 State of the Nation Report identifies a mixture of success and failure in New Zealand’s social progress over the past twelve months. Through reference to social and economic data the Report identifies significant positive progress in areas of pre-school education and crime and punishment. It also demonstrates how little has been Read more
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The Auckland City Missioner says a report on child poverty is timely, and if the recommendations in it were adopted it would have a significant impact. However, she says what is ultimately needed is a change in the way government agencies work. The report, commissioned by the Children’s Commissioner and released by an expert advisory group, Read more
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Vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of Government changes to welfare benefits, with sole parents the majority of those with children having their benefits cut, says Child Poverty Action Group. Figures obtained by the lobby group under the Official Information Act show since the Government’s first tranche of welfare reforms were introduced in July last Read more
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As he was addressing a group of MPs and their staff who had come together to discuss child poverty Parliament last week, Victoria University public policy Professor Jonathan Boston realised he was the only man in the room. Boston, who is co-chairman of the Children’s Commissioner’s advisory group on solutions to child poverty has discovered a significant Read more
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Recently an expert advisory group made some recommendations for tackling child poverty. I’m a member of the advisory group and took part in its work because business has a clear interest in this issue – child poverty affects us all. Some of the advisory group’s interim recommendations were quite specific – on things like benefit Read more
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Growing up in poverty has pernicious, enduring, but preventable effects on children. Research suggests that poverty is the single greatest threat to child wellbeing. Its negative effects endure and escalate across the entire lifespan. It is concerning, therefore, that according to the recent report by the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty, approximately Read more
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Passing on extra vegetables grown in the garden to people in need, and sharing what food we have, were suggestions that students at St Teresa’s School in Karori gave today to help overcome hunger and food insecurity in New Zealand. The students were talking to Catholic Archbishop of Wellington John Dew over lunch, prior to Read more
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Short-sighted policy changes, taking with one hand while giving with the other, may leave vulnerable groups short-changed in this year’s Budget, says Catholic social justice agency Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. Caritas Director Julianne Hickey says the Catholic agency assesses the impact of Budget measures through the lens of the common good: what will contribute to Read more
