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
Rodney Hide says Government programmes are perfectly engineered to embed and eternalise an underclass. He agrees with Matt McCarten that successive governments have shown no concern for the poor and downtrodden. “The transformation of New Zealand society from one in which Jack was every bit as good as his master, and Jack’s children had every opportunity Read more
The Wellington Homeless Women’s project, an initiative of four women – three religious, Srs Raye Boyle, Catherine Hannan, and Marcellin Wilson and Newtown lay pastoral leader Karen Holland, lead to the establishment of The Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust which recently announced that it has been able to secure a 2 year lease from 19 April 2013 for accommodation Read more
Today, the top one per cent of incomes in the United States accounts for one fifth of US earnings. The top one per cent of fortunes holds two-fifths of the total wealth. Just one rich family, the six heirs of the brothers Sam and James Walton, founders of Walmart, are worth more than the bottom 40 per Read more
In Fiji, Father Kevin Barr said two thirds of Fiji’s population are living in poverty or close to it. Representing the Peoples Community Network in a seminar titled “The Challenges of Poverty to the Constitution” held at the University of the South Pacific He said 60 per cent of the workers in full-time employment earned wages below Read more
Child poverty in New Zealand is unacceptably and unnecessarily high and it can be reduced, and it ought to be according to Professor Jonathan Boston. “Doing so would constitute a great investment in all our futures. But it will require public support, sensible policies, sustained effort and political will.” Boston says there are three myths about Child Poverty in Read more
The Anglican Bishop of Wellington, Justin Duckworth, has taken TEAR Fund’s dare to live on just $2.25 a day for all his food and drink for five days, 24 to 28 September. “In today’s world, I believe extreme poverty and inequality are unjustifiable and unfair, and that’s why I am taking part. Live Below the Line demonstrates Read more
Catholic charity Caritas’ chapter in Spain has issued a new report showing that poverty, inequality and social injustice are on the rise in the European country. The findings were presented on Sept. 20 in Madrid by the secretary general of Caritas, Sebastian Mora, and the coordinator of the study team, Francisco Lorenzo. Caritas says that Read more
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