MEDIA RELEASE

Another call to deal with Poverty … now
MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira
Wed 13 February 2013

“The Sallies have highlighted the importance of facing up to rising poverty” said MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira following the release today of their state of the nation report The Growing Divide, “and I commend them for it.”

“Their report clearly illustrates this government’s systemic failure to properly address the key challenges of the day: child poverty, unemployment and growing homelessness.

“Unfortunately, while the Salvation Army and many others are calling for a rethink of the policies that are making the rich richer and the poor ever more marginalised, this government not only turns a blind eye – their ministers are known to even make snide remarks when challenged in the house on the issue of poverty.

“MANA backs the call for more to be done to ensure marginalised New Zealanders – te pani me te rawakore – are our first priority, not the last.

“And when I read that the demand for food parcels from their foodbanks has more than doubled over the last 5 years, I am reminded to do my best to make MANA’s Feed the Kids policy of free meals in low-decile schools a reality”.

Organisations that now support the “Feed the Kids” bill include: Anglican Church, Auckland Action Against Poverty, Barnardos, Child Poverty Action Group, CTU Rūnanga, Every Child Counts, IHC, Methodist Church, NZ Educational Institute, NZ Nurses’ Organisation, NZ Principals’ Federation, Poverty Action Waikato, PPTA, Save the Children, Te ORA (Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa): Māori Medical Practitioners’ Association, Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora (Māori Women’s Welfare League), Unicef NZ, Women’s Refuge, Zen Peacemakers Aotearoa.

ENDS

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