Poverty report highlights why Labour’s Neokindness isn’t enough

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
41
906

Poverty burden for children increases in first year of COVID-19 due to Government neglect – Child Poverty Action Group

Poverty, inequity, homelessness, and food insecurity have increased for New Zealand children throughout the first year of COVID-19, partially due to Government neglect, the latest Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) report says.

CPAG is an independent charity that works to eliminate child poverty in New Zealand through research, education, and advocacy.

Its report, called The first year of COVID-19: Initial outcomes of our collective care for low-income children in Aotearoa New Zealand, was released on Tuesday and outlines the impacts low-income children faced during the first year of the pandemic.

New modelling in the report shows young Māori and Pacific children were about 2.5 to three times more likely than Pākehā children to have entered poverty in the 12 months after the start of the lockdown last year. Also, changes in youth homelessness and chronic absences for low-income students were worse for Māori and Pacific people than for Pākehā.

Labour’s Neokindness is doing very little for the poorest amongst us.

Take last weeks supposed $20 per week benefit rise that wasn’t, over half of beneficiaries didn’t in fact get the $20 promised!

Majority of beneficiaries won’t be $20 better off despite Budget boost

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In May’s Budget, the Government announced it would lift all main benefits by $20 a week on July 1 in order to help vulnerable New Zealanders put food on the table and pay their power bills.

But modelling from the Ministry of Social Development for Budget 2021 shows that 193,000 individuals and families are estimated to receive less than $20 per week because the additional financial assistance they receive for accommodation or other costs will fall as a result of their main benefit rising.

It is estimated 178,000 people will receive an increase of $20 or a little bit more.

You can’t promise $20 knowing that less than half would actually get it!

MSD have seen this increase as a way to make revenue by clawing it back from beneficiaries, this money is for the poorest, it’s not so fucking Wellington bureaucrats can build themselves a new glass palace in Wellington!

I’m getting a tad sick to death of listening to 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. These new figures make the meaninglessness of Government Policy look even more pathetic!

If only we could put in as much effort  lifting children out of poverty as we do on middle class tax breaks for electric cars, a billion dollar bike lane and hate speech legislation.

We hate beneficiaries so much that a crumb is sold as a mountain.

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41 COMMENTS

  1. the haves in this country care not about the have nots.
    and no one should be surprised that Labour is in that regards no better then National.

  2. One of my flatmates is on a benefit for health reasons. From the latest $20 “boost” she actually receives $14 due to clawbacks. From the $25 “boost” last year she got $6.

    • yes, and that same landlord tried to rent his room for a standard rate for 6 month occupancy and yet, the government via Winz refused. Never mind the motels that make millions. Or hte government paying 4 million more then the value for a motel to now house the homeless themselves.
      Btw, the reason this guy made money? It is because the government rather pays inflated rates to some then pay a regular rent outright. It could, but then its Labour so it wont and National wont either, and thus the country gets fucked over in blue and in red.

    • They pretend they care, and then they don’t do a single thing to make anything better.
      They are just as bad as National, in fact i consider them worse.

    • “If we rank all MPs by the value of their property interests, National MPs take the top 14 spots, and none of the bottom 30. Despite making up a quarter of Parliament, their collective property wealth is worth more than the other parties combined.”

      And the muppets believe National are the saviors of housing. THEY WERE THE CAUSE!!!

  8. Yet again, the elephant in the room is housing. Now more like a herd of mammoths. The foundation to all the problems, our Labour government are too scared or too witless to take on.

    I mean what is it with this infuriating government that tinkering, to the point of actually not doing anything for anything, is seen as the best option? It seems the only mechanism Labour has the courage to use. And yet time and time again it fails in all its objectives and from the PM down, they just cannot see it.

    The list is building where the stated policy or objective is never met. It’s now getting beyond embarrassing.

    Someone with connections with the Labour Party must know the answer here. Why?

  9. ” This isn’t leadership, it’s capitulation. These new figures make the meaninglessness of Government Policy look even more pathetic ”

    Bomber none of these stark issues you raise will be addressed by the parties in the current parliament.
    There has to be a new movement dedicated to entering parliament with a list of non negotiable positions.

    A new movement that can take on neoliberal National and neoliberal kindness Social Democrat and a commitment to shake up the ruling establishment in Wellington.

    I just can’t see any breakthrough without direct involvement to change the status quo.

    The current parliamentarians are creatures of the system and are all enriched by their adherence to market economics.

    That is why the Labour party was formed in 1916 with similar economic conditions to break the scourge of capitalism.

    Nothing will change until it is forced to !

    • Mosa, That is a ‘lightbulb’ moment – reading what you’ve written.

      There has to be a new movement dedicated to entering parliament with a list of non negotiable positions

      Absolutely!!

      And, maybe start by much smaller wages for MPs, so that entering parliament realise it is a PRIVILEGE!! to be there, and it carries the most serious duties and responsibilities – Some of which must indeed be Non Negotiable!

      Successive NZ govts of whatever stripe have caused so much harm, – including selling the land itself to foreign powers, to foreign nations. To slice up the body of Aotearoa and sell off large pieces of the land that they were voted in to care for and to protect and defend…. When it is gone, we have nothing. And they have already sold off vast amounts of this land, and of our aquifers. They have no right to do this. It is not theirs to sell.

  10. XRAY you are so right this Government is witless to the point of embarrassment with none of their election promises ever met.
    From the Prime Minister down.

      • Gawd! Seems like we need the return of the ‘thing’,… the Scandinavian counsel to sort this shit out,.. this scurrilous crowd don’t seem too concerned to look after their community.

      • For many decades politics in NZ has been centred on voting into power the lesser of two weevils.

        Basically, we don’t what either of them but we have to keep the other lot from returning/getting into power because the damage they do will be worse.

        ‘Many weevils are considered pests because of their ability to damage and kill crops’ And damage society.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weevil

  12. Folks
    Jacinda disputes the facts, she doesn’t believe the stats. She is starting to push back on all sorts of issues of failure these days. It shows her extreme confidence in her performance – clearly she thinks she is god’s gift. And the media just play along. They just sit there and say “Er, ok.” She has become untouchable!
    On this particular issue, why is nobody roasting the minister of child poverty? Who holds that portfolio anyway? It’s a kiwibuild repeat right there. What will it take for Labour to do something meaningful? Oh hang on, they did…they paid $1.4mil towards gender neutral toilets at Eden Park. There you go – our govt is amazing after all!

  15. “If we rank all MPs by the value of their property interests, National MPs take the top 14 spots, and none of the bottom 30. Despite making up a quarter of Parliament, their collective property wealth is worth more than the other parties combined.”

    And the muppets believe National are the saviors of housing. THEY WERE THE CAUSE!!!

    • The muppets, like myself, knew National were greedy and anti poor. Thats why us muppets voted for Jacinda Ardern who has since turned out even worse than National in regards to rampant house price increases, rampant homelessness, rampant child poverty, rampant increases in rents, rampant increases in housing suppliments, rampant increases in the rich asset owners wealth. We voted for a change and got National on steroids. Should we feel happy about that?… or perhaps you own a house and you are doing fine…. that is the problem with kiwis….. sell outs.

      • I owned twice, once in 1990 and a second time in 2001. When we sold in 2005 with the arrival of a second child we made a $7000 profit of which $5000 went to the real estate and $1000 to the lawyer. We rented with the belief that we could save enough in 5 years for a deposit. Of course National became government in 2009 and the damage continued up until the point LVR’s were implemented. Now we have next to no chance of owning. So no I don’t come from an “I’m alright jack” background unlike many of the neoliberalism group on steroids. The muppets who wish to return to a party , whose ministers own the most property of all ministers( just think about that for a.moment) will certainly not return for the better.

  17. Agree this Labour Ardern led Government does not care.
    If they do then why haven’t they done something rather than make everything worse?

    • “Lifted weekly benefit rates by between $32 and $55 per adult, to help break the cycle of poverty”

      Now whether you agree or not, they HAVE done something as this one example shows and I suggest you go onto their website, stop being lazy, with your constant…”they’ve done nothing” whining.

  18. aye well what did people expect? You cast your vote and hope for the best because it is democracy in name only

    Is there such a thing as an honest politician?

  20. Well said Ex Labour.
    So any benefit increases of late have been swallowed and in fact exceeded.
    To summarise beneficiaries are worse off under the Ardern led Labour Government.

    • Not a mathmetician either John. To summarise beneficiaries are much better off under an Ardern led Government, increase in benefits, healthier homes, winter energy payments, and a roof over their heads with supported accommodation. Oh that’s hard right, they’ve done NOTHING John, I almost forgot.

  21. Glad you agree Bert they’ve done nothing.
    Everything has worsened.
    Homelessness
    Child poverty
    Mental health
    Etc,etc
    Refer Tremains cartoon above.

    • What John another senseless reply? Time for your morning meds, you clearly misread but I’m pleased you agree with me , Labour have improved people’s lives. Now off to the tea room with you. It should be warm in there with your winter energy payments, that ACT and the Nats want to abolish.

  22. Between 2010 and 2017 under John Key my house value increased 200% (30% per year), more than my salary in that period. The greedy speculators were making a mint – putting houses back on market within a week – obviously leading to the rock star comment from Keys mate. He made me a multi-Millionaire. At the same time I saw the streets of Auckland fill up with the homeless. The homeless are now less conspicuous and my property may have increased only 25% since 2017 (6% per year). The right-wing dont care about the poor, unemployed, homeless, Maori, PI’s, and other disadvantaged – no votes or $$$ in it. National and Act aren’t up to governing – hopeless useless friends of the speculators and other tricksters.
    Once again Ashley and Jacinda have stuck to their plans in spite of the unprecedented pandemic and so far have been right. Look at the carnage and covid raging around the world while we are operating as usual. Remember the Tory media fools promoting Sweden, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, etc. Thank god i’m living in my ancestral lands in Aotearoa.

  23. Time for my morning meds?
    Bert are you making fun of people with mental illnesses?
    Gosh for a person who works in mental health I cannot believe you said that.

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