Campaign for a Budget to End Child Poverty Launched

Monday, 4 May 2015, 9:11 am
Press Release: ActionStation

Campaign for a Budget to End Child Poverty Launched

Grassroots campaigning group ActionStation has teamed up with UNICEF, Child Poverty Action Group, NZ Council of Christian Social Services, members of the the Equality Network and Tick for Kids partners to launch a petition calling on the government to take real action on child poverty in Budget 2015 by treating all children equally and boosting the incomes of the poorest families in New Zealand.

“Since we launched in July last year, ActionStation members have consistently ranked child poverty in their top three issues of concern.” says ActionStation National Director, Marianne Elliott. “So we’ve teamed up with New Zealand’s leading independent experts and advocates on child poverty to call for change for our most vulnerable children.”

Child poverty regularly topped pre-election polls as an issue of concern to New Zealanders in 2014 and at the time all the political parties assured voters that, if elected, they would take real action to end child poverty in our country.

“The time for that action has come. says Elliott, “In less than a month the Government will release the 2015 Budget, and what our members want is a broad political consensus, with support from all parties, for a Budget that will end poverty for New Zealand children.”

“One in five children in New Zealand live in poverty is not only a national crisis, but also an entirely avoidable one,” says Elliott. “We know what it would take to turn around the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Zealand children living in poverty, and we have the resources to make it happen. What we need is political courage, grounded in strong public support, and that’s where our members come in.”

The petition calls on Prime Minister John Key, Minister of Finance Bill English and Minister for Social Development Anne Tolley to ensure that Budget 2015 treats all children equally, and boosts the incomes of the poorest families in New Zealand, by extending child-related tax credits to the poorest children, who currently miss out. The petition will be delivered in the week before the Budget.

Petition link: http://www.actionstation.org.nz/endpovertynz

More information and references: http://www.actionstation.org.nz/endpovertyfaq

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