The Children’s Commissioner has spoken about the problem of child poverty in New Zealand. A recent Growing Up in New Zealand survey shows New Zealand child poverty has become worse over the past four years. Improving this has to be a cross partisan aspiration, says Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad (pictured). She notes the Read more
Beneficiary crackdown plans won’t resolve worsening child poverty statistics. Salvation Army policy analyst Ana Ika (pictured) says the Government’s approach is misguided. “In theory, it sounds like it’ll work, but it’s a simple solution for a complex issue” she says. But sanctioning beneficiaries to push them into employment will not resolve our worsening child poverty Read more
As many as 15,000 teenagers are taking on paid work to help pay for family basics and government agencies urgently need to find out how many are dropping out of school to do so, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)says. CPAG is urgently calling for adequate support to school students who are working too many Read more
Child poverty must be at the top of the incoming Government’s agenda, says the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). It has written an open letter and launched a petition, demanding a meeting with incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon before Christmas. CPAGs health spokesperson and former paediatrician Professor Ines Asher says they’re calling for the meeting Read more
Child poverty in New Zealand has been notably absent from the election debate, say four prominent public health analysts. Jonathan Boston, John Kerr, Michael Baker and Russell Wills say that, although recent governments have successfully implemented a range of anti-poverty measures, child poverty barely figured during the 2023 election campaign. “During the 2017 general election Read more
For the last two decades critics have seen Working for Families (WFF) as discriminatory, poorly designed, far too complex and woefully ineffective in addressing the worst child poverty. In 2004, CPAG explained what was so wrong in a publication called Cut Price Kids and has been campaigning to fix WFF ever since. After the WEAG Read more
Teachers are warning of a gruelling winter ahead for children in poverty, as the cost-of-living crisis takes a major toll on struggling families, says KidsCan. “They say it is affecting learning, with more children arriving hungry, others barefoot in freezing weather, and sickness spreading in overcrowded, unheated homes.,” says a KidsCan spokesperson. KidsCan has seen Read more
Food insecurity is an urgent problem the Government must fix. “The more hungry we are, the more we will see unrest,” says Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson. “Thousands and thousands of us just don’t have enough money for food.” She should know. Over the past 10 years, demand for City Mission food parcels has risen Read more
Persistent child poverty rates in Aotearoa New Zealand signal a failure to recognise the legal rights of the child consistent with the Articles of the UN Convention, according to a report by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). CPAG is concerned groups of children have been ‘left behind’ in recent attempts to reduce poverty, and more Read more
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is known to dislike the nickname Chippy, a hangover from his student days. Given the way he has chewed through Jacinda Ardern’s old policies, maybe we should instead call him the Wood Chipper: big, gnarly policy offcuts are fed in, and out comes a handy pile of pie-related photoshoots and small-target Read more