CHILD POVERTY ACTION GROUP SHOULD BE CALLING FOR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

"It really angers me to hear the Child Poverty Action Group once again calling for the government to do more for children living in poverty," says Lindsay Mitchell, Petitioner for a Parliamentary Review of the DPB. " The CPAG have backed Laila Harre's latest condemnation of a country that allows 30% of it's children to live in poverty, apparently overlooking that a DPB upbringing accounts for most of that figure."

"It's fully evident that the more the government assumes responsibility for the financial well-being of the family, the worse the situation becomes. Indefinite cash hand-outs are destructive," says Mrs Mitchell, "because they discourage people from developing and using their capacities, they encourage dependence and re-inforce patterns of non- accountable behaviour."

"With New Zealand's highest fertility rates occurring in the most impoverished regions of Gisborne and Northland," says Mrs Mitchell, "Shouldn't the CPAG be asking why women living in the areas of highest unemployment are giving birth to the highest number of children? "

Mitchell continues, "Children usually end up in poverty because of the choices that their parents make - or fail to make - as is more often the case. As advocates for poor children, the CPAG should be calling for parents to limit their families to a size they can afford and for couples to show greater commitment to their children by staying together. They should be calling for men and women who are not financially equipped for parenthood, to use readily available contraceptives."

"Above all," Mitchell finishes, "The CPAG should be calling for an end to the DPB which, in reality, discourages all of these preventive actions."

Lindsay Mitchell
Petitioner for a Parliamentary Review of the DPB

ph/fx 04 562 7944
e-mail dandl.mitchell@clear.net.nz

© Scoop Media