[New Zealand] Brash stance on child poverty concerning - lobby group

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Child protection groups and Labour MP Steve Maharey are attacking National leader Don Brash over comments he made that child poverty could rise under his leadership.

Every Child Counts - a coalition including Barnardos, Plunket, Save the Children, Unicef NZ and AUT's Institute of Public Policy - said Dr Brash's remarks yesterday were disturbing.

Social Development and Employment Minister Steve Maharey said the comments showed how far National was willing to go to cut taxes.

Dr Brash, speaking on National Radio about possible tax cuts under his party, said that he could not guarantee that child poverty or food bank queues would not rise under National, but believed its policies would lead all New Zealanders into greater wealth.

"This election is a choice between two different philosophies - do you leave money with the people who earn it, or do you take it off them and hand it around," he said.

"The best way of dealing with child poverty, the best way of dealing with food banks is to get people into jobs. To deal with welfare reform, to get welfare rorts out of the system that's the most effective way of dealing with it."

Every Child Counts spokesman Murray Edridge said Dr Brash believed child poverty fluctuated over time but the group wanted him to commit to ending it.

The UNICEF report, Child Poverty in Rich Nations 2005, published earlier this year, ranked New Zealand fourth worst of 24 countries with a rate of 16.3 per cent on the scale used, Mr Edridge said.

Denmark, at the top of the table, only had a child poverty rate of 2.4 per cent.

The report showed many OECD countries appeared to have the potential to reduce child poverty below ten per cent without a significant increase in overall spending.

Mr Edridge said child poverty was seen as an unimportant by-product of economic policy in the past but countries like Denmark showed treating its elimination as a goal worked.

"Dr Brash's remarks about the impact of his proposed tax cuts on children are the sort of political attitude that Every Child Counts argues needs to change if we are to have a worthwhile future."

Child poverty had flow-on effects ranging from educational under-achievement to long-term welfare dependence.

"All of this takes a toll on our society and economy. Child poverty can't be ignored."

Mr Maharey said the comments showed National was out of touch.

"This is an astonishing statement to be making, when virtually every other government and major political party in the OECD has made a public commitment to reduce or eliminate child poverty," he said.

The Government rejected that child poverty was cyclical and Mr Maharey said it had declined significantly in recent years.

He attributed the improvement to Government policies rebuilding social services.

Dr Brash today told NZPA Mr Maharey was taking his comments out of context.

National was committed to reducing poverty in the long-term, but no one could rule out small fluctuations in the short term.

Unemployment had recently hit record lows of 3.6 per cent, but had since climbed slightly to 3.9 per cent, meaning several thousand people were out of a job and worse off.

That did not mean that in the medium to long-term it would not fall below 3.6 per cent again.

Other social indicators followed similar patterns, he said.

National was committed to getting more people into jobs, with a target of reducing welfare beneficiaries from 300,000 to 200,000 within 10 years.

That was the best way to increase people's wealth and move them out of poverty, he said.