Māori Party committed to addressing whānau poverty

As the only political party in the history of New Zealand politics to establish a Ministerial Committee on Poverty, the Māori Party remains committed to dealing with whānau poverty.

“We supported the Feeding the Kids Bill because we know that having a full puku is a prerequisite to tamariki being ready to learn. However sending kids to school with no kai is just one outcome of whānau poverty”, says Māori Party Co-leader Marama Fox.

Through the Ministerial Committee on Poverty, the Māori Party has been able to advocate for initiative like free GP visits for Under 13s, free home insulation for low income families and the expansion of Whānau Ora.

The Māori Party has also supported the Kickstart Breakfast programme.

“It’s misleading to claim the Government isn’t concerned about children turning up to school hungry”, says Mrs Fox.

Last year, Mrs Fox joined the Social Development Minister to mark the serving of more than 3-million breakfasts across the country through the Kickstart Breakfast programme. More than 28000 tamariki at 800 schools have been part of the programme.

“Kickstart Breakfast is a great programme supported by the Government, industry and local communities who provide volunteers to serve breakfasts to our tamariki every morning,” says Mrs Fox.

Māori Party Co-leader Hon Te Ururoa Flavell says child hunger is a whānau issue.

“I’m working with other ministers to ensure that more is done for whānau who aren’t providing breakfast and lunch for their tamariki. Whānau Ora is about ensuring whānau do have the resources they need to provide for their tamariki,” says Mr Te Ururoa Flavell.

Mr Flavell says “the Māori Party realises the Government can still do much more to support whānau out of inter-generational poverty including increasing benefit levels and the minimum wage and taking a whānau approach to addressing poverty”.

ends

© Scoop Media