8 February 2007

Media Release:
Hungry kids need policies to end poverty

Reports of more than 80,000 children arriving at schools hungry each day should be a wake-up call to the government to end child poverty.

Instead it has been a shameful spectacle to see the government ducking and diving in the face of criticism from National Party leader John Key.

The best Education Minister Steve Maharey could offer so far is “Low-income parents don’t need this kind of patronising attitude that comes from people like John Key”

Yes that’s true. But neither do they need the government’s blatant denial that there is a serious problem.

The evidence suggest the problem is getting worse under Labour.

The Ministry of Social Development report released in September last year showed that the proportion of children in families under severe or significant hardship increased from 18% in 2000 to 26% in 2004.

For Maori and Pacific families the figures are sickening. The same report showed that Pacific Island families suffering severe hardship increased from 16 percent in 2000 to a staggering 30 percent in 2004. Labour should hang its head in shame.

It is no surprise that the figures revealed in the New Zealand Herald today show 40.8% of Pacific Island children (7.7% for Europeans and 22.9% for Maori) go to school without breakfast.

It is true that Labour inherited an appalling situation after a decade of despair for families in the 1990s. John Key should be prepared to publicly apologise for the policies of his former colleagues Ruth Richardson and Jenny Shipley which drove hundreds of thousands of families and their children into poverty and kept them there.

Our parents can make good decisions for their kids but they need to be given the opportunity to do so. National certainly has no plan to do so but then neither does Labour.

Policies which Labour should be pursuing include a policy of full employment based on a breadwinner earning enough in 40 hours to support a family in a reasonable standard of living.

Hungry kids can’t learn properly. To get to first base these kids need policies which support their families instead of the permanent band aids proposed by National and Labour.

ENDS

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