26 January 2017

Govt simply picking up where National left off

The new Government has taken a good first step in helping support our vulnerable kids by picking up where National left off, the Party’s spokesperson for Children Paula Bennett says.

“Tracy Martin’s announcement that the Government is putting $27 million to better support children and young people in care is a welcome move.

“I’m glad to see she’s picking up where we left off but she shouldn’t pretend these are new initiatives.

“This money is all contingency funding that we set aside in last year’s Budget.

“In 2017 the then Minister, Anne Tolley, announced $434.1 million in funding over five years for Oranga Tamariki, to support vulnerable children and young people – that was an 18 per cent funding increase over two years.

“That money was set aside to do so much more than what Ms Martin has announced today.

“Thanks to our economic stewardship, the National Government was able to fund the Ministry to provide additional support for caregivers, to expand Family Start and continue Children’s Teams, to improve accommodation for young people on remand, and enhance feedback and complaints processes.

“Ms Martin talks a lot about early intervention so it makes sense for the Government to adopt National’s world-leading Social Investment toolkit to root out the causes of hardship.

“The Government also has great opportunities to further reduce child poverty with the strong job growth and budget surpluses we left behind,” Mrs Bennett says.

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