Government policies are increasing child poverty – NZCTU
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi president Sandra Grey is blaming the Government for new data released by Stats NZ today that shows child poverty continuing to be a stain on New Zealand.
“Working to reduce inequality for families should be the top priority for politicians. This Government was elected to reduce costs, but their policies are leading to increased poverty and material hardship,” said Grey.
“Child poverty continues to trend upwards. The data shows that one in eight children live in poverty before housing costs, one in six after housing costs. That means one in seven children living are living in material poverty. There has been little improvement in the data over the past year, and on all three core measures of poverty the data has got worse since 2023.
“The biggest worry should that 23,700 more children are living in material poverty since 2023, up 16%. That means that they are going without the absolute basics including food, clothing, and heating.
“Progress on reducing child poverty has gone backwards over the past two years and it’s no wonder given the Government is making the cost-of-living crisis worse. They have cut the minimum wage in real terms, kept benefits low, and increased costs for essentials including prescriptions and travel costs.
“Tackling child poverty should be a top priority of this Government, but instead they are focused on cutting services to fund tax cuts for landlords and big business,” said Grey.
As Winter approaches and with the increase in weather related events, the situation for those in need will worsen. No child today should be disadvantaged by a lack of shelter, inadequate food, decent clothing, heating, and education. Yes, some people should not keep having children they cannot afford – we must all be accountable, however it’s about the children!!! Does NZ really want a focus from the rest of the world showing how uncaring and selfish we have become? In the past, policies were put in place to make sure all children got a fair deal. Our next government needs to make this a priority. We don’t want schemes like ‘working for families’. We must give dignity and a decent ‘livable wage/salary’ to all workers. At present it is so uneven it is scandalous. Our ‘gentry’ are all doing extremely well thank-you, Luxon et al, they don’t need MORE!