Child poverty report in New Zealand prompts strong reaction

from Yahoo News New Zealand

A new report issued by New Zealand government finds that 230,000 are effected by poverty. This story profiles the reaction.

The report, A Fair Go For Children -- Actions to Address Child Poverty in New Zealand , proposed remedies including extra support for benefit dependent and low-income families, reform to the benefit system, and expansion of health, housing and education services.

Unicef NZ domestic advocacy adviser Barbara Lambourn said while child poverty rates were down from a high in the 1990s, they were still too high, and worse than developed countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, France and Nordic countries.

Ms Lambourn said it was irrelevant whether children were born into poverty or beneficiary dependent families.

"I don't think that's an issue and it certainly shouldn't affect any child," she told NZPA.

"Every child born has the right to a decent existence whether they are beneficiaries or not. It should not impact on the child's potential."

Ms Lambourn said the United Kingdom had made in-roads in addressing child poverty, as had France and Nordic countries, and there was no reason why New Zealand couldn't close the gap.

"It's in the state's interest to look after their potential citizens, otherwise they're looking after them at the end of the system.

"Because poverty, as we know, is incredibly damaging for children in terms of what the state is then going to have to look at in healthcare, loss of potential, lower learning outcomes..."

Save the Children NZ executive director John Bowis said the Government needed to take action.

He said many children were still paying the price of the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s.

"During that time child poverty and economic inequality rose in New Zealand more than in any other OECD country," he said.

Mr Bowis said steps taken by the Government to reduce child poverty were recognised.

"However, there is a considerable way to go.

"It is not acceptable that 230,00 children, or one in five children in this country, were last year living in households with incomes below 60 percent of the medium income after taking housing costs into account."

He said allowing children to live in poverty contravened a United Nations convention signed by New Zealand in 1993 regarding children's rights and the government's responsibilities to ensure them.

Unions also responded to the findings, saying they highlighted the need for adequate minimum wage levels and access to free or low cost early childhood education.

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