Equality Network says it wants a New Zealand in which everyone has the resources they need to provide for their families and whanau.

The network says big imbalances of income and wealth have been "deeply destructive and unfair" and corrosive of New Zealand's social fabric.

It says New Zealand experienced its biggest increase in income disparity in the decade after the mid-1980s.

The network's aim is to reduce inequality in New Zealand to levels enjoyed by countries such as Denmark.

There, the richest tenth has an average income five times that of the poorest tenth.

That's the level New Zealand had in the early-1980s.

Currently in New Zealand that ratio is nine-to-one and the network believes a ratio of five-to-one is achievable.

The network says some direct causes of inequality include the effects on Maori of colonisation, and discrimination, as evidenced by the gender pay gap.

Other causes, like globalisation and robotic manufacturing either cannot or should not be directly opposed because they do bring benefits.

But they say politicians can reverse indirect causes of inequality.

These are tax cuts for the rich, benefit reductions, failure to build sufficient houses and restrictions on workers' bargaining powers.

The network's recommendations come under three broad headings: income inequality; wealth inequality and; addressing the long-term causes of inequality.

The network says those don't cover all the changes needed but that they would be both politically feasible and effective.

The network comprises 37 non-government organisations.

These include Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Catholic Bishops' agency for justice, peace and development, and the National Council of Christian Social Services, of which Catholic Social Services is a member.

Sources

• Release to media
• Full statement (PDF)
• Image Newswire

The China Development Research Foundation proposes allowing two children for every family in some provinces from this year and nationally by 2015, and dropping all birth limits by 2020.

The Associated Press reports that some demographers see this timeline as a bold move by an organisation close to the central leadership, while others warn that the gradual approach suggested would still be insufficient to help correct the problems created by the one-child policy.

"China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth," the foundation said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The one-child policy has been in place since 1979.

Cai Yong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States, told the Associated Press that the report carried extra weight because the think tank was under the State Council, China's Cabinet.

He said he found it remarkable that state-backed demographers were willing to publicly propose such a detailed schedule and plan on how to get rid of China's birth limits.

"That tells us at least that policy change is inevitable, it's coming," said Cai, who was not involved in the drafting of the report but knows many of the experts who were.

Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy and an expert on China's demographics, contributed research material to the foundation's report but has yet to see the full text. He said he welcomed the gist of the document that he's seen in state media.

It says the government "should return the rights of reproduction to the people", he said. "That's very bold."

Associated Press

Image: Allianz Wissen