The Children’s Commissioner wants a rethink of universal services such as pensions and free children’s healthcare so more public spending can go to the neediest families. The commissioner, Hastings children’s doctor Russell Wills, hoped the Budget to start a national “conversation” about how to use limited public spending to best effect. “We need all taxpayers’ Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Child Poverty’
School decile stats suggest widening gap
Tuesday, May 5th, 2015Education Ministry figures show the communities around low-decile schools are poorer than ever but better educated. School deciles are based on five indicators – parents with no qualifications, crowded households, household income, parents receiving income support, and parents with low-skilled occupations. Decile one schools are the 10 percent of schools with the most students from Read more
Cardinal Dew joins housing protesters
Tuesday, March 31st, 2015
Cardinal John Dew recently joined protesters concerned about empty Housing New Zealand properties and growing urgent housing lists. Dew told about 50 people at the protest on March 21 that 34,000 New Zealanders were either homeless or living in insecure homes. Good quality, safe shelter was a basic human right and New Zealand had a Read more
Church congratulated on child poverty stand
Tuesday, October 21st, 2014The efforts by the bishops of the Anglican Church to ensure that the issue of child poverty is not forgotten is a call to all New Zealanders to take action, says Labour’s Interfaith-Dialogue Spokesperson, Su’a William Sio. “I think the Anglican Church is right on the mark and this Government has to focus on child Read more
Child poverty on Key agenda
Friday, September 26th, 2014Prime Minister John Key has asked his officials for fresh ideas on tackling child poverty. On his first day back at Parliament since being re-elected on Saturday, Key said he had ordered Treasury and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet officials to start presenting new ideas. ‘‘The recognition I think we all have is that Read more
It’s easier to talk about other countries’ atrocities
Friday, August 29th, 2014
It’s easier to talk about other countries’ atrocities than to look deeply at the blight of violence meted out on innocent children on a daily basis in our own country says the parish priest of Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand. In an opinion piece in the Otago Daily Times Fr Wayne Healey Read more
Huge crowd at child poverty forum in Wellington cathedral
Friday, August 8th, 2014
More than 1000 people packed St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Wellington for a Catholic and Anglican initiative to hear politicians address child poverty. Catholic Archbishop John Dew and Anglican Bishop Justin Duckworth invited the Children’s Commissioner, Dr Russell Wills, and politicians to speak on child poverty in the lead-up to the election. At the forum Read more
Anglican & Catholic bishops organise forum on child poverty
Friday, July 25th, 2014
The Catholic and Anglican Bishops of Wellington, New Zealand, Archbishop John Dew and Bishop Justin Duckworth, have organised Forum on Child Poverty. The aim of the forum is to highlight the issue of child poverty in New Zealand. An estimated 270,000 children (1 in 4 children) in New Zealand live in poverty. Click here to Read more
Band-aid Budget 2014
Friday, May 16th, 2014
The Budget largely fails to address the root causes of poverty, provide more affordable and social housing, or adequately protect our environment says the The Justice and Peace Commission for the Catholic Diocese of Auckland. The Commission says: The Budget fails to adequately address the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state as discussed Read more