MP’s hit the nail on the head

‘MP’s Peter Dunne and Te Ururoa Flavell have hit the nail on the head, warning of the unintended consequences for children,’ said Dennis McKinlay, of Every Child Counts when commenting on the government’s beneficiary reform package.

‘According to the Ministry of Social Development’s latest statistics, a full 20 percent of children in 2008 were living in low income households.[1] The main income of most of those households would be from benefits. We also know that those families get negligible benefit from Working from Families. Those statistics do not reflect the full impact of the recession through 2009,’ he continued.

‘Those MP’s are absolutely correct in noting that these children are not the authors of their own deprivation and that they are at serious risk as a consequence of this government initiative.’

‘’The impact of child poverty is well-established and will effect these children’s health, education, future job prospects and even the degree to which they may end up as unproductive members of society. In a very real sense our present high health bill and burgeoning prison muster is an unforeseen consequence of the high child poverty rates caused by the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s.’

ENDS

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