Child poverty rises while corporations gobble taxpayer funds

This as the Prime Minister lectures on marmite sandwiches…

Annual report finds more NZ kids living in material hardship than last year

A new government child poverty report shows more kids and young people are living in material hardship than last year.

The annual report on the child and youth strategy looked at a range of child poverty measures and indicators between July 2023 and June 2024.

It showed that 13.4 percent of people aged between 0 and 17 were classified as being in material hardship.

That’s a 0.9 percent increase on the year prior and a 2.9 percent rise on the period between July 2021 and June 2022.

Over the period of the latest report there has also been an increase in the number of young people in families receiving a benefit, more avoidable hospitalisations, declined immunisation rates for babies and more food insecurity compared to the year prior.

…this as trans nationals gobble up the school lunch food programme…

School lunch provider Compass Group gobbles up rich Govt contracts

Compass Group has contracts with the public sector worth more than $210 million this year.

This means the Government is a significant customer for the school lunch provider, whose most recent public financials put its total New Zealand revenue at $296.5m.

Compass Group NZ (CGNZ), wholly owned by a British-based multinational public company, has been under fire this year for multiple failings in delivering its $80m-a-year school lunch contract.

“We openly acknowledge there have been challenges, we welcome feedback from students and schools and know that there is still work to be done,” CGNZ managing director Paul Harvey said.

Critics are now questioning whether the company is paying enough tax and whether taxpayers’ money should go into overseas shareholders’ pockets.

…this as people are more concerned about the economy…

Ipsos Cost of Living Monitor: Kiwis pessimistic despite economy improving

A significant portion of New Zealanders remain pessimistic about their finances, a quarter struggling financially and 41% expecting their disposable income to shrink in the coming year.

Those on low incomes are particularly struggling, according to the latest Ipsos Cost of Living Monitor, and increasingly so: 38% said they are having difficulty managing financially, up from 25% in May 2022, when inflation peaked at 7.3%.

This represents a 52% increase in just under three years of those on low incomes who are struggling.

…we are feeding our kids corporate slop, cutting welfare and imposing sanctions via AI and slashing public services all se we can afford borrowed tax cuts and landlord loopholes.

Strangling the common good for donor interests is what this Government does.

We are a better people than this Government believes we are.

 

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