I’m getting a tad sick to death of listening to Jacinda and other apologists from this Government tell us with straight faces that lifting 30 000 kids out of poverty is somehow a meaningful response to the poverty crisis.
It is not.
Look, even if, and I mean IF, they actually do lift 30 000 kids out of poverty (and I say IF because we saw how their promises of jobs from the Provincial Growth Fund were a joke) so even IF they lift 30 000 kids out of poverty, that still leaves a staggering 190,000 children in poverty!!!
You can’t boast about saving 30 000 kids while leaving 190 000 behind and still ask for a pat on the back!
This isn’t leadership, it’s capitulation.
If only we cared about children in poverty the way we do about property speculators and 100k gold plated public service jobs.
It’s disgusting to lift 30000 kids out of poverty while leaving 190000 kids in poverty and then want a pat on the back.
We hate beneficiaries so much that a crumb is sold as a mountain.
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Government agencies care about ‘some’ kids but not others and our Government seem happy to spend copious amounts of resources on foreign nationals kids but not our own abused kids. All seemingly to keep Meth supplies high and never ending supply of foreign labour, plentiful and cheap.
How Oranga Tamariki bungled the handling of baby brought to New Zealand by drug traffickers
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/how-oranga-tamariki-bungled-the-handling-of-baby-brought-to-new-zealand-by-drug-traffickers/LO6F3JTLB7UQF4YYDXP2NNAFVA/
Other kids in state care seem to be discarded.
House of horrors: Tortured Auckland teen Dimetrius Pairama’s final moments will ‘haunt’ family
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/house-of-horrors-tortured-auckland-teen-dimetrius-pairamas-final-moments-will-haunt-family/TDGHURBGEP2I4RKIS7KHLRETOQ/
Cash labour with illegal workers who can provide the best for their children and get mortgage free houses in NZ.
Teenage Kiwi fears deportation because parents are overstayers
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/teenage-kiwi-fears-deportation-because-parents-are-overstayers/JV5ZNSD74TGTYTDNIIWVNBKYAA/
Other’s are homeless
Axle’s family was homeless before moving to Tolaga Bay, mum reveals
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/442020/axle-s-family-was-homeless-before-moving-to-tolaga-bay-mum-reveals
We should do our best for all children, but increasingly those with money and resources or just visitors (like the drug smugglers) are coming to NZ and having children without visa’s themselves or in the hope to get NZ residency and squeezing out local children’s ability to access services and be the number one priority in NZ.
We are also killing our kids by allowing so much fast food and supermarkets selling ultra processed foods to proliferate and be largely un or under regulated in NZ. Then the problems from this lack of regulation fall on the kids themselves growing up on takeaways and not getting the nutrition they need.
Junk food binge: One month aged doctor’s body ten years
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/junk-food-binge-one-month-aged-doctors-body-ten-years/5UGQCHUA6XKTNA36JTR7BNJMYQ/
Anyone who challenges this are subjected to dirty politic campaigns.
‘Hit’ jobs case: PR consultant apologises and promises cash to settle defamation case that came from Dirty Politics
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hit-jobs-case-pr-consultant-apologises-and-promises-cash-to-settle-defamation-case-that-came-from-dirty-politics/C4KN5H42UUOCSXD7OFXGZ6YCEA/
A time bomb issue facing our children,is from poor quality food leading to 1 in 3 adults and 10% of NZ children being obese and many suffering from obesity and food related diseases like diabetes.
2 people decide to have a baby they do not have the means to support then they spend money on junk food which is so poor for the child’s health and mental growth . Where is the campaign to think before you breed and care after you have.
Here we go. Having another crack at The National Parties no child policy. It’s just as ridiculous is calling pregnant woman as pregnant people. What a bunch of dummies.
The headline: Ardern ‘proud’ of child poverty progress, despite lack of evidence
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/ardern-proud-of-child-poverty-progress-despite-lack-of-evidence/ar-BB1a4AYS
That linked article is from October 2020, before the last election, with Ardern claiming that the February 2020 statistics are out of date because they measure up to June 2019 and do not show the improvements that the government has made. The lack of evidence is attributed to a lag in measurement, not achievement.
“The unfortunate thing is – and this is just the reality of this area of work – the way that we measure progress has such a time lag. We still don’t actually have a full picture of what we did over the last term – we’ve only got the first 18 months, and a significant amount of what we did was in the latter half of the term.”
The latest update for child poverty statistics released this year covers the period up to June 2020, closer to the time that the article was written about Ardern.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/child-poverty-statistics-year-ended-june-2020
“For the year ended June 2020:
– all measures of child poverty were trending downwards, across the two years since the year ended June 2018, with five statistically significant decreases
– 11.3 percent of children were living in material hardship, a statistically significant decrease compared with the year ended June 2019
– Māori children made up nearly half of the annual fall in the number of children in material hardship
– low-income rates for Māori and Pacific children remained unchanged compared with the year ended June 2019
– disabled children are more likely to live in a household with low-income or material hardship when compared with non-disabled children
– child poverty rates for children living in households with at least one disabled person were higher compared with rates for children living in households with no disabled people.”
The broken promises made by this government continue to pile up. Big numbers of those that will benefit from this or that policy fail to happen . The government continue its popularity because those it fails are not home owners .
Very harsh Martyn. Jacinda is soooo kind and amazing. She doesnt achieve much yes, but it’s not the delivery that counts, its the nice things she says that really matter. Yes many outcomes and measures have significantly worsened, but as long as we say improving these areas is a long term aspirational goal, surely that is all that matters?. We are riding high in the polls remember, that’s all that counts…
Jesus wept!
You have a large army of New Zealanders screaming from the rooftops about the significant benefit increases yet you still mock Ardern in this policy to assist those in most need. FFS! Are you able to compare what National did and what this Government has done? Do you think all this need has just arrived?. We should be celebrating solid progress in the all-important area of equality. That has been extremely rare in recent decades.
I would like people to focus on Winston Peters and just how damaging he has been for equality in NZ.
He chose well when he decided Labour was the best option to select in 2017 but why did he really choose Labour? Because they were the best option for NZ or was it a power-play / personal vendetta against some in National or was it because Labour was prepared to give him and NZF the biggest bag of lollies? I sincerely believe if that party ever attempt another comeback, they should change the party name to something far more appropriate, New Zealand First, First.
Grant Robertson has admitted how difficult it was to make more meaningful progress in the area of poverty via previous budgets due to competing interests at the table. An obvious euphemism and reference to Winston Peters. Those at the bottom doing it hard in recent years need to look no further for the delays in progress cause. Same person at the very heart of diabolical inequity in the housing market in recent years. A capital gains tax was well overdue and would have put a stop to the obscene situation with property investors that created unprecedented inequity in housing. Ardern had to send the prospect of a CGT into oblivion to appease Peters who had threatened to bring the Government down if they incorporated it into policy. That ensured wealthy investors continued making obscene profits and their tenants had no realistic hope of owning their own home in their own country.
Winston Peters, thanks for nothing.
Yes the public housing waiting list has quadrupled to well over 20000 people and this government has further enshrined Neoliberalism whilst commanding a majority government. But it’s all Winston’s fault still apparently…Seriously, I like Jacinda too, but it’s time we started calling her out on her governments bullshit progress. If we arent getting true transformation now, then when?
MickeyBoyle,
Vested interest can make stats say whatever they want them to say. The diabolical situation with our nurses is emphatic evidence of that. I have several health professionals in my circle. They all gave up approaching the then Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman to address their longstanding concerns over pay and conditions. Absolutely pointless to threaten strike action as Coleman and his Government would have done fucking zero and patients would pay an even higher price. Along comes the Ardern government and all of a sudden we see protests and strike action from nurses. People find their voice when they have at least some chance of a positive outcome.
There has been an army of people struggling with housing for many years. Safe to say a fair % fly under the radar and see it as pointless pleading for help to a Government that proved conclusively that they couldn’t possibly care less. Talk of kindness and giving everyone a fair go from a new Government obviously dragged a lot of people out of the woodwork.
There are other reasons why the list grew. How accurate were the figures from the previous Government on the housing front? They deliberately fogged the issue of how enormous the issue was of offshore investors buying NZ homes really was by only counting buyers that didn’t have an NZ IRD number. That made it appear that only 3% of homes were being purchased by offshore buyers so nothing to see here. Yea right. Even blind Freddy knows that many offshore investors use NZ Trusts to buy property. They all have NZ IRD numbers. Add to that family and friends based in NZ buying property for offshore investors.
Crime stats were another farce. Under National, we saw huge increases in reported crime. National Party MP’s ridiculously told kiwis there wasn’t actually an increase in crime, only an increase of confidence in the Police resulting in more crimes being reported, meanwhile, homeowners were waiting for a week to have police attendance, and that’s only the lucky ones.
We’ve had a huge number of essential workers and kiwis returning home in recent times. They all need a home which creates even more displacement and housing issues. Way to simplistic to point the finger at Ardern and trot out the number 20,000 as if Ardern and her Government are the cause. Years of having our immigration floodgates wide open has finally caught up and the mess we have now is the result. It’s taken years to get this bad and will take years to put right. It’s ironic that so many people sat like church mice while National fucked NZ in so many ways. They haven’t stopped whining and bitching at the only crowd trying to put it all right.
JFan,
It is true that the present govt did NOT cause these problems.
It is true that the problems are deeply entrenched, systemic, and have been growing for decades. They require deeper, more fundamental changes than can be brought about in a few months, eg.
It is true that the times that we’re living in now, with the pandemic, are unlike anything that the last few govts ever had to deal with. The demands of dealing with the pandemic are huge, in terms of time, energy, resources and having the right people in the right places to keep everyone safe. And, this govt have excelled in dealing with this.
However, there are some fairly simple, fairly basic steps they could take which would make a real difference, a significant difference to the lives of the poorest among us, which so far they have not taken.
Scape…meet goat…
I don’t know who these people are who are saying how wonderful the increase it. Frankly it is pathetic. Labour disgust me. I am not sure why anyone would bother to continually compare the two major parties. The Nats gave a $50 increase to beneficiaries, that was a miracle but it id happen.
We should stop comparing them and just consider Labour on its own, you know the ‘working class party’ Why do all these politicians have a photo of Mickey Savage in their offices, Mickey would be embarrassed about this lot.
I’m trying to choose between calling her Cindy or Dr Donothing…
I now think in totality Labour are starting to deliver.
2 months ago things were different but the benefit, over the span of her government, has gone up substantially compared to any other since Richardson’s gutting of the welfare system.
Add to that accommodation supplements, winter heating subsidies, and other top ups it’s harsh to say Labour are ignoring the poor. And they’re doing this in the post climate of Nationals tax cuts.
There is a ton of work to do regarding housing and ensuring these top ups do not end up in landlords back pockets but I see Robertson is turning his sites on that area too now.
Personally and though not perfect they are headed in the right direction and taking them voting public with them.
The good thing about pledges is that you don’t have to honour them, especially if you are a politician.
Didn’t Tony B Liar, Adern’s mentor, in the year 2000 pledge to end world poverty by 2015?
Or was that just an aspirational goal?
,
Perhaps he got the date wrong, and he meant end poverty by getting rid of the poor people via starvation and disease, as is happening to an ever-greater extent overseas now.
It would surprise me if that turns out to be the plan for NZ.
Sue Bradford:
“Grant Robertson parades this Budget as a worthy counterpoint to Ruth Richardson’s Mother of all Budgets 30 years ago. It is nothing of the sort, with any sense of “transformation” lost in the ether.
“While people on income support will be grateful for the cold charity of an extra $20 a week [less than $3 a day], when you’re on Jobseeker Support of $219/week that $20 does not go very far.
“The Finance Minister carefully blurs the issue when he talks about raising benefits next year in line with the Welfare Expert Advisory Group’s report. The WEAG’s recommendations, already years out of date, were mostly well above the total $55/week increase some people will receive by 2022.
“To add insult to injury, the long promised return of the Training Incentive Allowance for undergraduate education is delayed until next year.” From this Herald link
In this Herald article, Paula, doesnt mention the TIA. The allowance she used to ‘get out of poverty’ and then subsequently abolished when in office. Funny those on the right always seem to want to pullup the ladders they used and then bash those at the bottom. I dont understand why we have to wait a year to help those ‘in need’.
The way I see it is you could give some famalies thousands of dollars a week and their children would still go hungry. To make an impact we need wrap around assistance, including housing and community involvement; social agencies, including iwi, are by far the best to provide this. Sadly past efforts have included too many organisations just ‘clipping the ticket’ in the money handouts.
Agreed. And through reality is New Zealanders are conditioned to loathe beneficiaries so any major hike, all at once, will see her government kicked out and the Nats/ACT likely reverse it with a tax cut thrown in for good measure. What they’re doing is politically palatable.
Housing is really where poverty can be mitigated for those who want out and more public housing is needed urgently.
Less than $3 a day.
That’s what santa claus grant has given the hungriest, the most desperate.
…The small change someone might give to a beggar on the street as they walk by.
Not enough to buy a loaf of wholemeal bread from my corner store.
Not enough to buy a bottle of water to get through a whole day.
Bread and water? Yeah, right.
And he heralds it as some great transformational, “generational” gift to humanity.
It is deceitful, and sadistic, for kids who are hungry and cold.
All the hooplah, all the trumpeting, all the B.S!
This was the fluorescent “Lipstick on a Pig” of a budget.
I need to qualify that last sentence. It should read,
“In terms of helping beneficiaries, …. etc”.
Who is afraid of rampant inflation (rampant devaluation of money via money-printing)?
Not us, say the sociopaths at the top of the social-financial pyramid.
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