Government’s lack of ambition on poverty

The Prime Minister’s ‘good intentions’ have once again fallen short, with the Government’s child poverty targets aiming to lift fewer children out of poverty than National actually lifted out in the last five years, National’s Children spokesperson Paula Bennett says.

“The Prime Minister committed her Government to reducing the number of children in material hardship over the next ten years by 70,000. Yet, over the last five years of the National government, the number of children in material hardship fell by 85,000.

“So this Government is promising to do less over a longer period of time than National did – in spite of its bold claims it would do better.

“National also remains more ambitious - that’s why we had committed to reducing the number of children in low-income households by 100,000 over three years, while Labour is committing to reducing the number by 100,000 in 10 years.

“National’s Family Incomes Package was also projected to lift 50,000 children out of poverty on 1 April 2018. It would have given 1.2 million working Kiwis an extra $1060 per year in the hand – and, we had committed to a further package in 2020 that would have had a similar impact.

“Labour, on the other hand, have no money for another Family Incomes Package – they’ve spent it all on a year’s free tertiary education. That is why they are giving themselves such a long timeframe to achieve what National would have done in the next three years.

“If the Government was truly serious about reducing child poverty it would reconsider abolishing the Better Public Services targets, which directly focused the public service on reducing the number of children living in poverty and tackling the causes of long-term deprivation.

“As is becoming the Government’s modus operandi, it is all intentions and no substance. Its ambition falls way short of the action needed to actually deal seriously with child poverty in New Zealand.”

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