Under the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 the Government Statistician is required to define persistent child poverty before 1 July 2025.

Government Statistician and Stats NZ Chief Executive Mark Sowden has defined persistent child poverty as ‘children living in households with less than 60% of the median household equivalised disposable income before housing costs are deducted (relative rate), in the current year and for at least 2 of the previous 3 years'. Read more

The calculation is made in Putting Children First for Sustainable Development, published on Tuesday, which quantifies the social and economic benefits of Official Development Assistance (ODA), and its long-term impact.

The researchers used what is described as a "robust analysis of the economic impacts of these investments", using a unique algorithm tool that was developed by Ernst & Young to identify and classify child-related ODA.

The analysis was the work of several months.

They found a return of $10 on each dollar spent, made up of direct benefits of more than $7, together with a "social multiplier" of indirect benefit of nearly $3. Indirect benefits come through programmes that support and empower children, their families, friends, and wider communities. Read more

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 avoidable hospitalisations shown by the recent update on the child and youth wellbeing strategy by Ministry of Child Poverty Reduction.

It also shows school attendance of tamariki Maori has worsened since the first report in 2020.

Resources needed

Achmad says the survey report findings show successive Governments haven't provided the resources needed to help children and families out of poverty.

Child poverty is not a choice the children want for themselves or others, she says.

"I have lots of mokopuna who have come up to me over the last few months and said to me, I don't want any other whanau to be homeless.

"I actually want every other mokopuna and whanau in this country to have a home, to have the things that they need to be able to thrive."

The Children's Commissioner says she welcomes a Government commitment to continuing the Growing Up In New Zealand survey. She hopes it will continue despite a cut in funding from the Ministry for Social Development.

Long term action is critical, she says.

Source

• Waatea News

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 problem.

Many people receiving jobseeker support are in complex situations.

"It's not as straightforward as putting a job in front of them and telling them to go to work" she says.

Ika notes the Stats NZ report which found that in the year to June 2023, an additional 36,000 children were living below the poverty line.

Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston said in a statement that's why the Government wants to reduce the cost of living and get people working.

"Supporting parents into paid work instead of welfare dependency is important to the Government's strategy" Upston says.

But it's not that simple, Ika stresses. People need "meaningful employment".

She notes that, as the Salvation Army works with the most vulnerable communities, they understand the intricacies involved.

"It needs a progressive approach that addresses the individual needs of those on jobseeker support.

"The current proposal around sanctioning them and ensuring that they're constantly looking for employment in our view is a harsh treatment."

The Statistics

Stats NZ's report uses three primary measures to determine poverty.

The first two look at those with less than 50 per cent of the average household equivalised disposable income before and after housing costs.

These show that about twelve percent of children account for the former; 17.5 percent make up the latter.

The third measurement found 12.5 per cent of children live in material hardship. They live in households where costs mean they can't afford to buy at least six of 17 essential items.

They also found Maori, Pacific and disabled children were worse off on all three primary measures compared with the total population.

Disparities

Ika says the "significant" disparities the statistics reveal are not new and need a targeted response to resolve them.

Some child poverty targets for European and Asian children have been met, she notes.

Looking at the bigger picture impacting child poverty is essential.

Ika mentions education levels, social housing registers and welfare - and says high rents are taking their toll.

Families sacrifice groceries to buy school uniforms. School children work 20 to 50 hours on top of their studies to support their families.

Pacific followed by Maori households are on the bottom rung of average annual household equivalised disposable income before costs, Ika says.

Furthermore, rent for poorer communities - which predominantly house Maori and Pacific people - rises faster and beyond income levels.

After paying all expenses, these factors contribute to the reasons the families which the Salvation Army supports have little or no savings or financial buffers, she says.

That's why focusing on a single factor - like child poverty - can't work.

Their families must be included. Many are sole parents, dependent on welfare and living below the poverty line.

Source

• PMN

CPAG is urgently calling for adequate support to school students who are working too many hours while trying to keep up with their education.

In a review of available research on the issue, CPAG, with the support of Te Rourou One Aotearoa Foundation, found that there was no recent or relevant information on how many students are propping up household incomes, and the potential negative impact on their education or future employment prospects is unknown. Read more

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 because none of the parties forming the new Government have policies to reduce child poverty.

She says it's "alarming" that there has been a "surge of babies admitted to hospital" with preventable diseases.

"Most of these babies become so sick because of their inadequate living conditions which enable bugs to thrive ...".

Asher says there's not enough for the basics; homes are cold and overcrowded, unhealthy and mouldy.

The nutrition is poor and stress levels are high.

Policies can be created to intervene to ensure these families can access the "basics" which she says will reduce hospital admissions.

Food accessibility, affordability and availability should be included in the policy, Asher says.

She adds that we had policies like this in the 1980s but they have all eroded now.

CPAG wants more help for low-income and benefit-dependent families, more state houses, better legislation about housing standards and help particularly with food adequacy.

For children, this means the food must be of a quality that enables them to be healthy - which is "manifestly" not the case at present, she points out strongly..

The extent of the problem

Almost half a million New Zealanders rely on food handouts each week, CPAG notes.

Stats NZ's most up-to-date Consumer Price Index information shows that, in addition to groceries, food, meat, fish and poultry prices saw an eight per cent increase on the previous year.

It doesn't matter where you live, North or South, people are lining up for assistance with the basics.

Rotorua Salvation Army foodbank corps officer Hana Seddon says the organisation had always been "an important part of a community response to the needs out there".

This year, people with jobs and mortgages struggling to feed their families are also turning to the food bank, she says.

Invercargill-based Salvation Army Major Murray Sanson says they also now see "the working poor".

He says rising rents are putting pressure on families, and extreme weather events in the North Island are creating food insecurity.

A similar story is being reported from the Tauranga Community Foodbank.

Manager Nicki Goodwin says they're seeing "record demand". As is the case elsewhere, homeowners, people working full-time and double-income households are looking for food support.

This year, the food bank has helped 22,298 people within 8213 households. This included 11,797 children she says.

Community help

Communities have developed many innovative ways to help support their food banks, from radio appeals to street collections.

Invercargill's current drive is seasonal and involves "reverse adventers".

They set out to "flip the script" on advent calendars, by collecting donations rather than receiving advent calendar gifts.

Each reverse adventer fills a box or a bag and adds a non-perishable food or toiletry item daily. After collecting 24 donations, the bag is taken to the Salvation Army's food bank.

Source

• Rotorua Daily Post
• NZ Herald
• Stuff
• RNZ

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 campaign, for instance, the National Party leader, Sir William English, and the Labour Party leader, Dame Jacinda Ardern, committed to significant and sustained reductions in child poverty," they say.

However, this is not the case in the 2023 election.

"Worse, there is a risk that many low-income families will end up poorer, at least in relative terms, if they help fund tax cuts for middle-income earners," say the analysts.

Professor Richie Poulton's legacy

This change in policy direction would dishonour Professor Richie Poulton's "remarkable legacy" they say.

Poukton, one of New Zealand's most distinguished social scientists, died recently.

Many will remember his work - for several decades, he directed the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (commonly known as the ‘Dunedin Study').

In the light of Poulton's legacy, Boston, Kerr, Baker and Wills have taken the opportunity to highlight the damaging impacts of child poverty.

They say governments must take effective policy measures to minimise such poverty and alleviate its effects.

The Dunedin Study

Boston, Kerr, Baker and Willis say the Dunedin Study's contribution to understanding human health and development is extraordinary.

"Above all, it has highlighted how our early life experiences and environment affect the subsequent course of our lives."

The lasting impact of child poverty

The most stark pattern emerging from the Study found people born into poverty are more likely to suffer hardship of various kinds throughout their lives.

These include lower income, less education and poorer health.

The more severe and/or prolonged the experience of childhood poverty, the greater the long-term effects.

"If we want to improve key indicators and dimensions of societal wellbeing, a goal supported by our political leaders, then the Dunedin Study offers a powerful and unequivocal message."

The answer is to reduce childhood income-related poverty and material hardship.

The four note that, in his final interview for TVNZ's "Sunday", Poulton stressed this point.

Taking child poverty seriously

The subject of child poverty and how it might be reduced was almost completely absent during the 2023 election campaign.

Some recent policy initiatives will be repealed, the National Party indicated before the election.

These include indexing core welfare benefits to average wages rather than prices - this would help reduce child poverty rates.

"Indeed, the nation's poorest families may well end up worse off, at least in relative terms, if they help fund tax cuts for middle-income earners" Boston, Kerr, Baker and Wills say.

The four analysts predict material hardship in low-income families may increase, as will the associated negative long-term effect.

Different policy choices are possible, they say.

They note that reducing child poverty needs robust evidence of the kind provided by the Dunedin Study.

It also needs a society that values such evidence and seeks a long, secure and rewarding life for all its citizens, whatever their gender, ethnicity or beliefs.

"Aotearoa New Zealand has yet to fully embrace such a culture," they say.

Source

• PHC

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 report in 2018, the Government began its widely anticipated WFF review. We participated in good faith along with many other NGOs. Our recommendations are found here.

The main part of the WFF is the per child per week Family Tax Credit that goes to all caregiver in low-income families on the same basis. This is the best tool to ensure income adequacy.

The second component, confusingly named the ‘In Work Tax Credit ' is added to the Family Tax Credit weekly payment, but only when parents are eligible on paid work criteria.

While fixed hours of work no longer have to be met, if there is any benefit or part benefit paid, then the children of those parents cannot have any of the In Work Tax Credit.

As a result about 200,000 of the worst-off children in New Zealand miss out on a substantial part of WFF - at least $72.50 a week.

The reasoning has been that paid work is the only way out of poverty and therefore their parents need an incentive to work.

In the review of WFF, cabinet approved as the starting point these two key deeply contradictory objectives:

• to make work pay by supporting families with dependent children, so that they are rewarded for their work effort
• to ensure income adequacy, with a focus on low and middle-income families with dependent children to address issues of poverty, especially child poverty

Parents are not on benefits for fun.

Their children are four times more likely than other children to live in poverty — that means going without the basics … not enough money after rent to pay for school uniforms, and the power bill let alone nutritious food.

Many of these families are sole parents, many have disabled children, or there is sickness in the family, few job opportunities and lack support of all kinds.

Even if they manage a part-time job, their part benefit makes their children ineligible for the In Work Tax Credit.

When a payment to a caregiver is designed to be enough to address child poverty but it is withheld from the worst-off families who are on benefits to create a work incentive, the result is deeper child poverty not more parents off-benefit.

Phase one of the WFF review decided to focus on the second objective, and in the 2022 budget, increases were announced to the Family Tax Credit.

This was largely a delayed inflation catch-up implemented from 1 April 2023, and was soon eroded in the cost of living crisis.

Most unfortunately, as part of the same package, low-income families in paid work lost their Working for Families more quickly as the rate of clawback (or abatement) rose from 25 percent to 27 percent for each dollar earned over the very low fixed threshold of $42,700.

So much for work incentives!

Thomas Coughlan had previously outlined in the NZ Herald how serious thought had been given pre-budget 2023 to fixing flaws in the WFF design. He reported that in the WFF review

"Anti-poverty groups said this tax credit "should be paid to all families and not just those who are off a benefit and in paid work".

"These stakeholders argued that the payment was discriminatory or unfair, particularly given children were unable to choose whether their parents were working.

"They also emphasised the need to value other contributions people make, such as caring for children or voluntary work,"

So now we have part two of the WFF review.

May be this is Labour's way of putting that tortuous review to bed.

They announced yesterday (13th August) that if elected the In Work Tax Credit will be increased by $25 a week from 1 April 2024 creating an even bigger gap between children in families on benefits and other low and middle income families in paid work.

The threshold stays fixed at $42,700 and there are no automatic indexation provisions. However, the threshold will rise to $50,000 by 2026, just in time for the next election. The rate of abatement stays at 27 percent.

The worst-off 200,000 children get nothing- they remain invisible and left further behind - Cut Price Kids indeed.

• Susan St John CNZM QSO is an economist from New Zealand. She is a lecturer at the University of Auckland and spokesperson for the Child Poverty Action Group. St John graduated with a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Auckland in 1979.
• First published in The Daily Blog. Republished with permission of the author.

"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 its waitlist double and has launched an urgent appeal to reach thousands of children who need support. Read more

"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 each year.

"It's gone from 9,000 to 65,000. That's a huge number of people suffering food insecurity.

"Food prices rose 12 percent in the year to April. That's the largest increase since 1987."

Robinson had hoped last week's Budget might help.

So had Susan St John, economist and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) spokesperson.

It didn't.

CPAGs view

The Budget is policy makers' biggest opportunity, says St John. They can change the systems that lock whanau into poverty. They can also opt to keep the status quo.

"Budget 2023 was short-sighted," she says.

"It didn't give money to families struggling to meet basic living costs. It's terrifying it didn't address food insecurity's rise.

"This budget should have delivered a reformed and effective Working for Families.

"It is tiresome to hear that 'allowing low-income families to have sufficient income to feed their families would be inflationary'. It would not - in fact, it would make the economy work better," the economist says.

"Poverty is stealing families' dreams and there was little in the Budget to change this."

Changing policies can work

St John's recommendations to immediately alleviate the problem involve two things:

• The in-work tax credit (IWTC) being folded into the Family Tax Credit, to form one payment for all low-income children.

This would be a targeted and very efficient way to reduce child poverty, she says. It offers a higher level of support only to those who currently do not get the IWTC.

St John says it would cost about $500m per year.

Her other suggestion addresses poverty traps for middle- and low-income families in paid work:

• income assistance abatement thresholds must be raised and rates of abatement cut from 27 percent to 20 percent.

At present they face impossible "clawbacks", she says.

For each dollar they earn over a very low threshold, they may receive only a few cents. This is because income assistance abates (reduces) so quickly in several domains that it keeps them in poverty traps.

Victoria University's Kate Prickett is also concerned about the Budget's failure to make systematic changes for families.

She's the Director of the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families and Children.

Targets to lift children out of poverty aren't being met, Prickett says.

"We're not going to make further dents in child poverty without implementing bold support for those families being left behind."

She suggests helping:

• working families teetering on the poverty line
• Pacific families who may be less likely to qualify for support because they don't have residency status, despite contributing to the economy and their communities
• families unable to work, or whose work may be limited due to care needs (eg for whanau with disabilities)

This week's Budget feels woefully inadequate, she says.

Source

• 1News
• The Spinoff
• RNZ
• Voxy

CPAG is concerned groups of children have been ‘left behind' in recent attempts to reduce poverty, and more needs to be done.

Also, there is no comprehensive ‘code of compliance' to ensure new legislation is consistent with the provisions and principles of the UN Convention.

"We acknowledge steps taken in recent years to reduce child poverty, but there remain significant inequities in child poverty rates for Maori, Pasifika, children with a disability and children of sole parents," report author Dr Dana Wensley said.

Consideration should be given to strengthening domestic law and policy to incorporate the UN Convention, particularly in relation to ‘best interests of the child', the Social Security Act, and the Working for Families Package, she added. Read more

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 appeals to swing voters.

Judging by last Thursday's poverty statistics, however, Hipkins has a new problem from the past to test his well-honed political skills.

When Labour came to power, it made a big play about addressing child hardship.

It was, Ardern made clear, a moral stain on the country, as well as an appalling waste of potential.

Making herself child poverty reduction minister, Ardern set her government immensely demanding targets.

Ever since the Rogernomics reforms of the 1980s, and the cruel benefit cuts of the 1991 Mother of All Budgets, New Zealand has had some of the developed world's worst child poverty rates.

When Ardern came to power, the number of children living below the poverty line - often defined as half the typical household's income, because that's the point where paying the bills gets unmanageable - was 16.5%, or one in six.

By 2028, she wanted that down to just 5%, or one in 20.

This would represent an extraordinary accomplishment, slashing the amount of misery experienced by struggling families and taking the country from among the developed world's worst performers to among its best.

In the early years of her government, things went well.

The Families Package put $1 billion a year into poor households' pockets, through the Best Start payment, increases to Working for Families, and other policies.

The poverty rate dropped from 16.5% to around 13% in 2020, lifting 30,000 children above the line and into a better life.

Since then, though, progress has ground to a halt.

The child poverty rate, last Thursday's data showed, was about 12% in June last year.

On all measures, it was essentially flat between 2021 and 2022.

On the one hand, it is a testament to the government that, during a pandemic, it did not allow overall poverty rates to spike.

Some people may ask how the official figures can say as much, given that the media are full of stories of spiralling foodbank use and the catastrophe that is emergency motel housing.

But the two stories are not inconsistent.

Max Rashbrooke

The most vulnerable people have, during the pandemic, found things unbearably hard; their misery, the depth of their poverty, has clearly increased.

But at the same time, tens if not hundreds of thousands of families have benefited from Labour's ongoing minimum wage increases, tax-credit rises, and a $100-a-week boost to the core benefit since 2018.

That has helped lift, or at least sustain, their incomes, resulting in a flat overall child poverty rate.

Even that, though, poses real problems for Hipkins. Continue reading

• Max Rashbrooke is a senior associate at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington-Te Herenga Waka.

The latest child poverty statistics show there was no statistically significant improvement in the year to June 2022, and campaigners fear the situation has only got worse since then.

Stats NZ on Thursday reported no little change between 2021 and 2022, though eight of the nine measures remained better than they were in 2018, when the data was first published. Read more

The diocese's Justice and Peace Commission's submission particularly focuses on housing and child poverty, Maori children and the youth justice system.

Housing affordability

Acknowledging the ‘10,688 homes added to the public housing stock since 2017″, the Commission said:

"It would be helpful to know the net gain in public housing and how this could be increased given the large number of families waiting for housing.

"The importance of affordable and sustainable housing is the key to addressing social and economic inequalities, and ensuring that children have a secure start in life," says Commission member Jan Rutledge of De Paul House.

"Government cannot do this alone and should focus on working with community housing providers ... Not everyone wants to live in 2 or 1 bedroom housing which is what is being built by Kainga Ora."

The Commission's submission continued:

"The number of households on the Register for public housing continues to rise.

"We urge the Government to be prepared to put large resources of land and money towards tackling this pressing societal problem.

"A specific major allocation of funding to provide more public housing should be a priority in the Budget."

The Commission acknowledged the Government's attempts to reign in the private housing market. It supports the upcoming Budget's intention to top up the 2020 Progressive Home Ownership Fund.

It asked for additional funds to be allocated to continue and extend the established schemes.

Child poverty

The Commission commended the Government's May 2021 and 2022 Budgets and their efforts to redress the 1991 Budget's cuts to base rates of Social Welfare payments. Those cuts led to decades of intergenerational poverty, the Social Welfare Expert Advisory Report says.

"We ask that child poverty be addressed by including in the 2023 Budget sufficient funds to lift the wellbeing of families in need by enabling them to have a decent income to support themselves by -

• substantially increasing the base benefit for families in line with accumulated inflation
• continuing to increase the minimum wage
• establishing a Social Welfare Commission to ensure all families access the assistance they are entitled to.

"What is needed now is substantive action to address this massive injustice that prevents the poorest and most vulnerable in society being able to genuinely participate in building a decent society for all.

Maori and Pacific wellbeing

Maori and Pacific families' wellbeing is a pressing concern.

"Their children's wellbeing would be immediately improved if the recommendation to increase the base benefit for families by between 12 and 47 percent were implemented. This would have a significant effect on lifting Maori and Pacific incomes, skills and opportunities, the Commission wrote.

The United Nations is concerned about Maori children's over-representation in the youth justice system and suicides in closed institutions.

It recommends

• developing an action plan to reduce disparity in detained Maori children's sentencing, incarceration and survival rates
• a child rights-based approach measure to end child poverty
• addressing the connections between offending and neurodisability, alienation from whanau, school and community, substance abuse and family violence.

Source

• Waatea News

There was a recession that started before COVID-19 throttled the United States and much of the world, but that lasted a majority of the year. The federal government worked mightily in both 2020 and '21 to keep the economy from crashing.

The latest assessment is that those efforts paid off.

A US Census Bureau briefing on 13 September noted that poverty went down almost entirely across the board — age, race and other indicators. One of the big findings was that the Census Bureau's supplemental poverty measure for children had reached its lowest level since the bureau started recording the figures.

"SPM (supplemental poverty measure) child poverty rates fell 46% in 2021, from 9.7% in 2020 to 5.2% in 2021, a 4.5 percentage-point decline. This is the lowest SPM child poverty rate on record," the Census Bureau said in its report on the findings. "In 2021, SPM child poverty rates fell for non-Hispanic White (2.7%), Black (8.1%) and Hispanic (8.4%) children, also their lowest rates on record." Continue reading

An 11-year-old girl knows once rent is paid, there is almost nothing left over, so she tries not to ask for too much. She never takes school excursion notes home in case the cost is too much.

A 10-year-old boy's dad has been angry since he was injured at work; he can no longer support his family, and awaits compensation. It makes this boy feel sad, but he understands and tries not to add to his dad's stress.

This is how children have described their experiences of poverty in research I have done over several years.

An eight-year-old boy is often hungry, but knows if he tells his mum, she will eat less herself and go hungry. He hates the thought, so he stays quiet.

An 11-year-old girl knows once rent is paid, there is almost nothing left over, so she tries not to ask for too much. She never takes school excursion notes home in case the cost is too much.

A 10-year-old boy's dad has been angry since he was injured at work; he can no longer support his family, and awaits compensation. It makes this boy feel sad, but he understands and tries not to add to his dad's stress.

This is how children have described their experiences of poverty in research I have done over several years.

Children have also told us relationships are essential. They talk about the importance of family, the strength of community, and people helping one another.

These help buffer children from the effects of poverty - but none can address its structural drivers, or the ways systems fail many people.

Decades after then prime minister Bob Hawke declared that by 1990, "no Australian child will live in poverty", the problem remains very real in Australia.

So what is that experience like for children, and what needs to be done?

Three key themes

My research shows that when we listen to children about their experiences of poverty, three themes almost always emerge.

First, not having the material basics - enough food, a safe and secure home, transport - is a near-constant problem for far too many children.

Some of these things can be bought if money is sufficient, but some - like secure housing and transport - require investment in public infrastructure and equal distribution of resources. These are structural problems, not individual ones.

My colleagues and I have found children are more likely to talk about the importance of food than toys or electronic devices. Hunger shapes priorities powerfully.

Second, poverty limits children's ability to participate in activities and services (such as sport, public library time and health care).

This can be due to families not having the money - but often the barriers are, once again, structural. Schools in low-income areas are often under-resourced, playgrounds are less likely to be maintained, services are limited, and public transport is inadequate.

Third, relationships are deeply affected by the pressures poverty creates.

This is exacerbated by factors such as:

• low income
• punitive conditions placed on welfare recipients (such as needing to attend playgroups and parenting classes or job interviews)
• insecure work
• housing stress
• unaffordable costs of living.

For children, time with the people they love - particularly parents - is always a priority. Poverty eats away at that time.

The pressure of poverty eats away at the time children can spend with their parents.

A culture of shame

Another, perhaps even more harmful, theme has emerged in Australia over recent decades - the discourse around poverty often attaches blame and stigma to individuals.

Anyone deemed to be part of the "undeserving poor" is shamed. Children experience this in the names targeted at them, their families and communities. Policy settings around welfare can be unbelievably punitive.

As a society, we are diminished by this blaming and shaming rhetoric. It undermines our ability to care for others, and to recognise the value of care.

Six changes needed now

There is no quick fix, but here are six changes that would help immediately.

Boost welfare benefits

Children in families dependent on working-age benefits will grow up in income poverty. Children in single-parent (usually single mum) families dependent on income support are most likely to be in poverty. The policy response is clear - we must raise the rate of working-age benefits and reform the child support system.

Recognise the importance of strong and supportive relationships

Relationships are crucial to children but undue pressure on parents - through welfare conditions or child-unfriendly, insecure working conditions - undermines those relationships.

Some countries, such as New Zealand, are undertaking child impact assessments, which aim to work out whether a given policy proposal will improve the wellbeing of children and young people.

Australia should do similar assessments of all policies, particularly those linked to social security and labour markets.

Build child-friendly communities

As governments respond to the housing crisis through greater numbers of social housing it is critical we adhere to principles of child-friendly communities.

This means providing safe, welcoming places for children to play, building footpaths so children can easily and safely get around, creating communal, child-inclusive spaces to bring people together across generations, and creating child-friendly services close to home.

Reform education funding

Education funding must be more equitable, and ensure all children can access and enjoy high-quality schooling.

Change the narratives and language around poverty

We must recognise poverty is not the fault of the individual. Debates and policies should be based on empathy, not blame.

Put children at the centre of policy

This could include approaches like the European Child Guarantee, which aims to guarantee every child access to essential services.

• Sharon Bessell Professor of Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University.
• First published in The Conversation. Republished with permission.

It wasn't until several months and dozens of ham, egg and mayo sandwiches later, I found out - by chance - that he had been feeding a schoolmate, too.

My initial reaction was annoyance. But after talking with my son, who was perplexed by my reaction, I soon humbled myself.

"We have extra bread, and you didn't mind making the sandwiches when you thought they were for me, so what's the problem?", was my 11-year-old's answer to, "Why didn't you tell me the sandwiches were for your friend?".

I felt sheepish at the way I had acted. My son saw that his friend was hungry, so found a solution. Fixed.

But if only it were that easy to fix poverty.

A Salvation Army Report released earlier this year laid the numbers bare: Pasifika and Maori children still experience poverty rates two to three times higher than Asian and European children. And one in five children in decile one areas left school without NCEA Level 1.

The number of households relying on welfare benefits has increased, and children in these families are the most likely to live in poverty.

Although government financial assistance has increased, the continued pandemic and rising living costs contribute to increasing uncertainty around lifting the most vulnerable children out of poverty.

Also worryingly, the number of children identified as victims of abuse, including sexual abuse, has increased. Covid-19 has contributed to disruptions in children's education, while disparities in educational outcomes have worsened between Maori and non-Maori.

Why are we not more outraged as a country? Maybe we are, or maybe it's fatigue?

The Government's free lunches pilot in lower decile schools has solved the dilemma of many children going to school and being hungry, but what about dinner time, and weekends? And what about all the other disadvantages of growing up in poverty, like not being able to play sports, or afford shoes, or attend school?

Budget 2022 will give a $350 cost of living payment to those earning less than $70,001, but people who receive the winter energy payment, such as those on sole parent support, the jobseeker benefit, veterans and people getting NZ Superannuation, are not entitled to the cost of living payment.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson​ said the Government had already provided increases for those on income support.

"Since coming into Government, the changes mean that 364,000 people who receive income support are better off by an average of $109 per week. For those with children, they are better off by an average of $175 per week," Robertson​ said.

I grew up in a small forestry town. We were poor, but I didn't know I was poor. How can that be, you ask?

Well, simply put, everyone around me was poor. We had everything we needed: kai, a warm home, but there was no money for extras like shoes and new clothes. We didn't have a car, so I walked everywhere or borrowed a horse from the back paddock to get to school.

I was raised in an era where cellphones were only used for texting, calling, and playing Snake. Social media was still a relatively new thing, and I spent weekends and after school swimming in the river and building huts in trees. We fished for our dinners and traded wild boar for milk and butter.

It's a different time nowadays. Continue reading

• Donna-Lee Biddle is a is an investigator with the Criminal Cases Review Commission. A former journalist at the Waikato Times, she has a Bachelor of Media Arts (Communication), Journalism pathway & National Diploma in Journalism (Multi-Media), and has been awarded the ​Wintec Adult Learner Award 2014 and the Bruce Jesson Merit Award 2014 (investigative journalism).

"We're seeing unprecedented levels of need," said Chapman.

KidsCan was founded by Chapman in 2005, at the time providing services to over 40 schools that were struggling with children in poverty.

In 2022, it's estimated they will assist 1000. Read more

We've done it with Police shootings, we've done it with Police taking photos of kids and we did it with the vaccination rates.

Back in November 2021 when we were chasing vaccination rates, there were 159, 810 Maori unvaccinated, 42, 183 Pasifika unvaccinated and a staggering 317, 544 Pakeha who are unvaccinated!

By constantly screaming vaccine hesitancy is a Maori and Pasifica problem, we let 317, 544 Pakeha off the hook!

I fear we've done the same thing with child poverty.

Right now there are 156,700 children in poverty in households with less than 50% median equivalised disposable household income before deducting housing costs (BHC), 53,600 identify as Maori, 72,600 identify as pakeha.

There are more white children in poverty than Maori children and that might be difficult to visualise because the focus is almost exclusively on Maori children.

Yes, proportionately these stats hit Maori hardest, but by allowing that to decide the entire focus of the debate we ignore the far larger numerical problem of those issues impacting poor White families and that allows an escape to scrutinize what's really happening.

By constantly blaming Maori we can't see that this is a failure of neoliberalism that cascades across race. Look at the chart above, the poverty rate soared post-Rogernomics!

It's not an identity issue, it's a class issue exacerbated by a neoliberal economic hegemony that purposely rigs the system!

• Martyn Bradbury
• Statistics NZ
• First published in the TheDailyBlog. Republished with permission.

In the face of miserable outcomes in relation to child poverty, obesity, suicide and basic education, the Prime Minister remains upbeat about her government's efforts to date.

"You would be hard pressed to find a government that has done more to focus on child poverty in the last several decades than everything we've been working on," Jacinda Ardern says.

The government has increased benefits and tax credits and other changes to the welfare system, she says.

Yet despite Ardern's child poverty focus, life for New Zealand children compares poorly with that of children from almost every OECD country, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has found.

Describing New Zealand children's education, obesity and suicide trends as 'deeply embedded and terrifying', UNICEF NZ is calling for significant investment and policy change.

Out of 41 EU and OECD countries, UNICEF ranked New Zealand 35th in child wellbeing outcomes. New Zealand children have the second highest obesity rate in the OECD. Over a third are obese or overweight. Only 64.6 percent of 15 year-olds in New Zealand have basic proficiency in reading and maths.

"The Report Card gives New Zealand an F for failure when it comes to wellbeing outcomes for children," UNICEF says.

UNICEF New Zealand says these poor grades show New Zealand is failing its children.

"This is a woeful result for a country that prides itself on the great outdoors, academic achievement and the international success of our sports teams. It is time to be alarmed and activated about the inequality of opportunity, health and wellbeing in NZ."

New Zealand's Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has also just released research showing child poverty in New Zealand is soaring.

CPAG found that in the year to March since the nationwide lockdown, many more whanau have been doing it tough, with Maori and Pacific people the hardest hit.

Its modelling shows 18,000 more children have likely ended up in poverty in the 12 months to March 2021, even without taking into account the rising cost of housing.

Of these, tamariki Maori and Pacific children were up to three times more likely than Pakeha children to be tipped into poverty.

CPAG says the government did not give children and their families the prioritisation they needed as it developed policy responses to the pandemic.

"It is thanks to the collective efforts of iwi, hapu, community organisations, schools, whanau and families - and low-income children themselves - that the crisis of poverty was not even worse.

"Income loss due to job loss was probably inevitable due to Covid-19, but income loss to the point of inadequacy is due to our inadequate welfare system."

In Ardern's view, however, the government acted on its awareness as soon as Covid hit that vulnerable families would be among the worst hit economically. She says this is why support was rolled out in benefit increases.

Source

• RNZ
• RNZ
• UNICEF
• Image: Stuff