John Key MP
National Party Leader

30 January 2007

National to tackle NZ’s growing underclass

National Party Leader John Key says National will make tackling New Zealand’s growing underclass a policy priority this year and in government.

“We are seeing a dangerous drift toward social and economic exclusion,” Mr Key warned in his State of the Nation address, ‘The Kiwi Way: A Fair Go For All’, at the Burnside Rugby Clubrooms in Christchurch today.

“I’m talking about places where rungs on the ladder of opportunity have been broken. I’m talking about streets like McGehan Close in Owairaka, Auckland. In one week last year, two kids in that small street killed themselves and another two made unsuccessful attempts. It is a street terrorised by youth gangs.

“Around the country there are other places like this,” he says. “We should not be afraid to drive down certain streets, send ambulance officers into certain houses and take our kids to certain schools.

“I know we can do better. We have to do better. Because, left unchecked, the problems of a growing underclass affect us all.

“These are tough problems. But I have no intention of being a Prime Minister who tackles only the easy and convenient issues.”

Mr Key says dealing with the problem of a growing underclass will be a priority for National, both in opposition and in government. It will involve tackling serious and interconnected issues of long-term welfare dependency, crime, illiteracy, substandard parenting skills, social exclusion, malnutrition, drugs and lost hope.

“In all areas of social policy, I am tasking National’s spokespeople to come up with policies to address the deep-seated problems in some of our families and communities.”

Mr Key says National in government will team up with business and community groups to deliver better services to those in need.

For example, National will challenge the business community to work with it in backing a programme to provide food for kids in need in low-decile schools.

National will also work with schools, sports clubs, business and community groups to provide more funding so children in need can get access to sports.

And, Mr Key says, National will turbo-charge the efforts of private and community groups that are seeking to make a difference. He announced that National MP Paula Bennett will be charged with acting as a link with community groups as Community Programmes Spokeswoman.

“Labour often views non-government providers as its competitors, not its partners. It sees them as unprofessional. It tries to squeeze them into boxes that just don’t fit. It smothers them with paperwork and makes them apply to multiple funding pools.

“Well, I want to grow the competition,” Mr Key says.

“I want to get alongside the amazing groups that make a difference to our communities. I want to ask them what the government can do to support and extend their efforts.”

Mr Key cites programmes and groups such as Project K, Big Buddy, the Family Help Trust, city missions, citizen advice bureaux and the Salvation Army as those that a National government will get in behind.

Meanwhile, he says, a National government will not tolerate violence and antisocial behaviour.

“Under a National government, gangs will not be controlling neighbourhoods so that posties can’t even deliver the daily mail.”

He also indicates National will insist that healthy people getting assistance from the State have obligations – whether that is looking for work, acquiring new skills for work, or working in their community.

“National will use the welfare system, on behalf of all New Zealanders, to motivate long-term beneficiaries to change their lives for the better. Where we give opportunity we will expect responsibility. In giving a fair go we will expect a fair go in return. That’s part of The Kiwi Way.”

Mr Key says he’s proud of New Zealand, and Kiwis are lucky to call this country home. He believes his time in politics will only be a success if he can look back, knowing he played a part in building on that pride.

“I believe the best years for New Zealand are ahead of us. As a nation, we have everything to look forward to.

“We can be a country that is coming together; not a country that is coming apart.”

ENDS

Attached: fact sheet on growing underclass

The Growing Underclass – Some facts & stories

Living Standards

- The number of Kiwis living in severe hardship has been rising. In 2004 one-quarter (24%) of the population was living in “some”, “significant”, or “severe” hardship, about the same as 2000. But within those categories the number in “severe” hardship has risen 3 percentage points, while those in “some” hardship declined 3 percentage points, indicating that severe poverty is affecting more people. The figures come from the Social Development Ministry’s Social Report.

- The Living Standards Report 2004 showed the portion of Maori families living in severe hardship has risen to 17%, up from 7% in 2000. For Pacific Island families, the figure rose from 15% to 27%.

Law & Order

- Violent crime by youths aged 14-16 rose 27% between 1996 and 2005.

- When the youth gangs issue flared in Counties-Manukau in late 2005, Otara youth workers commented that they were shocked by the “new tone” in street gang battles. “There’s no sense of values, no sense of morals, it’s scary,” said Sully Paea.

- As well as Counties-Manukau, youth gang problems have also been reported in other centres such as the North Shore, West Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, and Wellington.

- Police Assistant Commissioner Grant Nicholls had cited the “LA influence” playing its part in rising youth gang violence, mainly in South Auckland.

- Methamphetamine offences rose 61% between 2004-05 and 2005-06.

- There were 56 murders last year, or one a week on average. A quarter of murders involved offenders under the age of 20.

- The cost of vandalism in schools has been estimated at $10m a year.

- 2007 kicked off with a spate of murders – seven to January 16 - and serious assaults. Among the dead are an innocent father of two gunned down in the Lower Hutt hills, a 77-year old woman stabbed to death in her North Shore home, and a 10-year-old girl killed in her Christchurch home after being sexually assaulted. Victims of assaults and sex crimes included a woman left unconscious after being assaulted by a man in Pukehina in the Bay of Plenty, a man being sexually assaulted by another man in a Wellington carpark, a man who had his car keys embedded in the back of his neck after an assault in Levin, and two men assaulting three teens unprovoked in Palmerston North’s main street.

Education/Sport/Nutrition

- 43% of school leavers from low-decile schools have no qualifications according to the Ministry of Education.

- Only 11% of decile 1-3 school leavers are eligible to enter university compared to 43% in decile 8-10 schools.

- 30,000 pupils are truant from school on any given day.

- 35% of students in low-decile schools fail to obtain the NCEA literacy standard, compared to 17% at high decile schools.

- The PPTA released a paper last year showing assaults on teachers have risen substantially in recent years.

- A recent study by a Victoria University student found that nearly 1,500 children in the Wellington region went to school without having had breakfast, and a further 437 often didn’t take lunch to school.

- In August last year, after-school sport for children in Otahuhu collapsed. The suburb’s five primary schools – all decile 1 and with 2,200 children – stopped organising sports at a local recreation centre because families couldn’t afford the fee increase from $2 a head for each game to $4-$5 a head.

- The Hilary Commission says there is evidence of dwindling membership of sports clubs, and increased running costs.

- SPARC says 32% of young people aged 5-17 are inactive – ie they do less than two-and-a-half hours of physical activity a week.

Child Abuse

- The number of established child abuse cases has more than doubled since 2000 according to Child Youth and Family. In 2000 there were 6068 recorded cases of substantiated abuse. This had risen to 13,570 in 2005.

- Unicef’s 2003 Report Card listed New Zealand as having the third worst rate of child homicide in the developed world.

Welfare

- The most recent statistics from the Ministry of Social Development showed that 234,000 children were dependent on income-tested benefit recipients – that’s about one in four of the nation’s children.

- As of November 2006 126,000 people were getting either the sickness or invalids benefit – up from 85,000 in 1999, an increase of nearly 50%.

- The number of people getting a working-age income-tested benefit for more than four years has risen from 97,000 in 2001 to 99,000 in 2006. So while there are less people getting the benefit, the numbers in long-term welfare are actually increasing.

Labour’s approach to non-government sector

- The Briefing to the Incoming Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector noted that the ‘demands of participating in multiple government-led consultations and policy conversations’ was a problem for the sector.

- Groups identified the need for the Government to streamline various funding pools and auditing processes across government agencies.

- A Youth Development Symposium last year noted that many felt duplication was encouraged by government silos and policies, programmes needed to be driven by the community, for the community, the ‘flavour of the month’ approach needed to be discarded, chasing funds led to less time in service delivery, and government was too often issues-based which led to fragmented services

Research: National Party Research Unit

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