Significant and Enduring Inequality Needs Urgent Action – Salvation Army
New Zealand is making some progress towards fairness and equality but urgent Government action is needed to counter significant and enduring unfairness that remains. That is a key message of the discussion paper Progress Towards Equalityreleased today by the Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit of The Salvation Army, Te Ope Whakaora.
“Making more progress towards equality will need to include the Government setting a target to reduce income inequality, as has already been done for reducing child poverty,” SPPU social policy analyst Paul Barber says.
“Further action by Government to directly lift incomes for those who are most in need is an essential part of wider work to change the structures of our housing, welfare, justice and other social systems to make them more inclusive.”
The poorest households, which include some 120,000 children, need at least another $112 per week to reach adequate income levels.
“The Families Package is helping but the Government needs to do more for those households in deepest poverty,” SPPU director Lieutenant Colonel Ian Hutson says.
Actively involving those most affected by the housing crisis in decision making is another essential step towards equality and inclusion, as is adopting Te Ao Māori principles into policy framework.
The paper is the latest in a series by SPPU highlighting housing, the criminal justice system and income and tax rates as areas where not enough is being done to promote equality in Aotearoa. The Progress Towards Equality report can be accessed at:
www.salvationarmy.org.nz/towardsequality
Issued on the Authority of Commissioner Andy Westrupp (Territorial Commander)
The Salvation Army, New Zealand Fiji & Tonga Territory
Why is there never a mention of encouraging these poor families to not have children that are going to forced to go through early life being deprived of the building blocks that are missing due to poverty. This is not to say these parents care less or love less but poverty is stressful to all concerned. The welfare state is great to stop adverse circumstances causing a permanent decline but it should not be a a way of life to base a families fortune on .
You are not in China trev and remember some of these families are working poor so something is wrong with our system/s and who is responsible for the housing dilemma trev you cant blame the poor isn’t that our governments/councils role to ensure we have enough homes for NZers. And why have the governments let in millions of people when they know we don’t have enough homes and infrastructure. Blame the right people not the poor who are getting screwed over.