Source: Child Poverty Action Group
New Zealand can no longer pretend we are looking after all our children well.
This Christmas, as foodbanks struggle with unprecedented demand assisted by worn-out volunteers against a backdrop of a soaring cost of living and the Covid threat, it is clear food security is a huge and growing problem.
It is time to put less emphasis on out-of-date child poverty statistics and pay more attention to the voices of those at the hard end of poverty. Even deficient statistics show that at least 120,000 children face hardship, with at least half of these facing severe deprivation.
Without the charitable donations of food banks and aid groups, many families would not be able to offer a special meal and gifts for their children on Christmas day. But charity is no lasting solution and there is no bold plan to tackle the hard systemic issues.
CPAG calls on all political parties to take an apolitical stance as is largely done for NZ Super. Child poverty is a deep and disturbing societal problem, not a political football. It’s too late for Christmas but CPAG says multi-party commitment to a big, bold transformative New Year’s overhaul of Working for Families (WFF) is needed.
In 2023, not after the election, or to fit a ten-year programme, WFF needs to be more generous and inclusive for all low income families. Payments and thresholds must be tied to wages and prices just like New Zealand super. The severe abatements that kick in when low income earners try to earn their way out of poverty must be reduced.
While CPAG applauds those who are working at the coal face to stop outright hunger and provide a little Christmas cheer, it believes that a healthy society is one where people have sufficient money to provide the basics for their families without begging for top ups from Work and Income or food banks.
Although benefits have increased, the cost of living and long-term effect of Covid have overwhelmed low income communities.
Changes need to happen now. A government that cared about low income families would not make promises that will be carried in 2024 only if they win the election in 2023. Struggling families should not have to wait for fair and just treatment at the whim of an electoral cycle.
“The effects of long term poverty are damaging our youngest citizens right now,” says Susan St John of CPAG. “We know that Māori, Pacific, families living with disability, sole parents and those on benefits are among those who suffer disproportionately. Fixing WFF for low income families is the most sure-fire way to deliver needed income to the worst-off children.”
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