A former diplomat who asked for his name to be withheld for “obvious reasons” says church donations burden the poor and they should be bold enough to “at least admit” that it contributes to hardship within families. He said the church needs to stop being “ignorant” about the plight of poor people who are “slaving” Read more
Burma is one of the most tightly-controlled countries in the world. Although elections last year replaced the military regime with a civilian one, the country still regularly ranks among the worst for human rights and corruption. Despite this, a group of New Zealanders has set up a successful microfinance charity providing small loans to the Read more
When I was a sweet and protected young thing in 1960s Australia, beggars were the stuff of legend. As I walked sedately to my lectures, an old chap would stop me every now and then and ask me for a bob. That was my sole experience, and my father was disgusted. You know what that’s all Read more
A British writer just back from a monastic retreat says it occurred to him, while on retreat, that the modern welfare system could learn a lot from the abbeys. Until the Reformation, the monastery offered alms to the poor and somewhere for people fleeing tyranny to hide. Post Reformation, the safety net was undone and Read more
New Zealand has been given a huge wake-up call with the OECD highlighting it as the world leader in growth and income inequality, a policy analyst claims. The gap between New Zealand’s rich and poor has widened more than in any other developed country during the past 20 years, according to an OECD report. Figures Read more
More New Zealand households are under financial pressure than ever. New Zealand families are under growing financial stress as stagnating wages and salaries prove inadequate to cover spiralling costs – and even top-tier earners are feeling the squeeze. According to Statistics New Zealand’s Household Income Survey, 29,200 more families now rate themselves as having incomes Read more
Six young people who completed a Gap Year programme in Wellington received their certificates at a graduation ceremony on Sunday. The participants are all people who have recently left College and are about to take their next step – work, study, or university. This year they came from from Auckland, New Plymouth, Waipukurau, Wainuiomata and Read more
The Occupy Wall St movement is being criticised by some as a crowd of malcontents having no solutions to offer to the problems they are protesting about. To start with they were portrayed as a movement that objected to what they deemed to be unfair bank regulations. Two months down the track, the novelty has dimmed, the objectives Read more
Last week TV3 broadcast a documentary on child poverty highlighting the issue of child poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand. Child Matters supports Bryan Bruce’s call in his documentary – for legislation to put our children first; for a strong focus on the needs of children, not the status of parents; and for this to happen across all political parties. Read more