Sallies Pleased Government Wants Fresh Ideas to Tackle Child Poverty

The Salvation Army is pleased Prime Minister John Key has indicated that his newly elected Government will give greater emphasis to the elimination of Child Poverty in New Zealand.

The Prime Minister said this week he had ordered Treasury and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet officials to start presenting new ideas on tackling child poverty.

‘The recognition I think we all have is that there are some extremely poor children who are missing out,’ the PM is reported as saying.

This year The Salvation Army has continued to call for social action on child poverty. Its State of the Nation released in February report highlighted child poverty as needing urgent policy attention. In a series of pre-election voter videos, The Salvation Army continued to reinforce this call.

‘It is encouraging so early in the life of the new Government that the Prime Minister is signalling a need to address child poverty,’ said Major Campbell Roberts of The Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit.

‘The Salvation Army sees daily the impacts of poverty on the children it works with. Health, educational and social deficits are created by poverty and this has a social and economic impact that affects us all.’

The Salvation Army commends the work of the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Group on Child Poverty as the source of many ideas that deserve more study and attention from Government.

‘Child poverty can be eliminated and addressing this issue will have a profound and long-lasting impact on the economic and social health of New Zealand,’ said Major Roberts.

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