Attention News Editor

Anti-Poverty Day Wednesday 17 October 2007

He Mana tō ia Tamaiti/ Every Child Counts

Child poverty: pay now or pay later

“More children live in hardship than do retirees or any other group in our population,” said Deborah Morris-Travers, Every Child Counts Project Manager, today.

Ahead of International Anti-Poverty Day (17 October), Every Child Counts is urging the government and all political parties to pursue comprehensive policies to end child poverty in New Zealand.  With the most recent figures showing that the single biggest group living in hardship is children (24 percent), and knowing that family income is a major determinant of child health, there is an urgent need for further progress to eliminate child poverty.

“Our levels of child poverty are high by international standards for the developed nations.  They result in a variety of costly outcomes such as poor health and educational achievement, youth crime, teen pregnancy and continuing cycles of disadvantage  Failure to invest in programmes that alleviate child poverty is a false economy.  If we don’t pay now, we will pay later.

“We applaud the efforts of the current government to provide assistance to low-income working families through Working for Families, however there is a need for policies to focus on all children, including those in the poorest beneficiary families.  

“The focus of International Anti-Poverty Day will invariably lead to people to focus on the injustice of poverty in other nations.  While this is important, we also have a serious problem here in our own backyard. 

“Too many children are living in homes that face multiple disadvantages.  Assistance to these families must include financial support as well as a range of other health, educational and social services.   Solutions might include an extension to all children of the current In-Work Tax Credit; more affordable housing; the provision of additional support through schools; and free healthcare (including after-hours care).

“Government figures show that despite the economic growth of recent years, low income households with children are actually falling further behind their neighbours.  Entrenched income disparities undermine the health and development of the nation’s children and the security of our society.  They are costly in the long-term.  We urge every political party to pursue policies that will reduce those costs and support all children to live full, healthy lives,” concluded Ms Morris-Travers.

 
ends

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