Budget 2015: time to prioritise Maori and Pasifika kids

A new petition urging the government to treat children as well as we treat all elderly New Zealanders provides an opportunity to address the needs of Maori and Pasifika children living in poverty says child advocate Anton Blank.

UNICEF NZ is partnering with other non-governmental organisations and ActionStation to promote a petition calling for children to be treated as well as we treat our elders – with policy that is inclusive and non-discriminatory. The petition is available at www.actionstation.org.nz/endpovertynz.

“UNICEF’s National Advocacy Manager Deborah Morris-Travers continues to show outstanding leadership in the child poverty space. The petition provides an opportunity for us to signal to government how concerned we are about current levels of child poverty,” Anton Blank said today.

“Deborah Morris-Travers also recognises that child poverty is unevenly spread, with Maori and Pasifika children bearing the brunt of New Zealand’s child poverty. Around 60% of New Zealand’s children living below the poverty line are Maori and Pasifika. They experience hardship at twice the rate of other groups of children.

“New Zealanders need to be concerned about the Maori and Pasifika profile because in ten years, 40% of New Zealand’s children will be Maori and Pasifika. The government currently spends between $3-4bn every year on strategies to deal with the poor social, health and educational outcome experienced by Maori and Pasifika. This figure will swell as the population on these children grows.

“Any measures to deal with child poverty in New Zealand need to recognise the particular needs of Maori and Pasifika. There is a plethora of evidence that points to the development of interventions that support linguistic and cultural development for Maori and Pasifika. Diversity within these groups is increasing however, so cookie cutter solutions will not work. The government needs to partner with Maori and Pasifika experts need to develop appropriate strategies.”

In a report on Maori and Pasifika child poverty published in 2011, University of Auckland academic Dr Manuka Henare proposed the development of culturally specific measurements of wellbeing.

“As Maori we are served up very depressing profiles by government statisticians that typically show us lagging well behind other groups. Rather than being the passive recipients of this data, as Maori, we need to be in charge of the measurement itself.

“Research into Maori identity and diversity is showing that our understanding of concepts like health and wellbeing vary significantly from other groups.

“When we put Maori in charge of the measurement we will achieve two things. First of all we will provide a space to measure things that are important to us. Secondly, these measurements would act as a springboard for the development of culturally specific strategies.

“The success of language revitalisation and the evolution of Maori education evidence what we are capable of when we are given the resources to develop our own solutions.”

At a broader level Anton Blank says that a universal child benefit is another measure that would provide scope to significantly impact child poverty.

“This was one of the recommendations from the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group (EAG) on Child Poverty.

“While this found no support from within government, the evidence from the EAG was compelling. A universal children’s benefit would acknowledge the special status of children, and the challenges faced by families. It would also give us the opportunity to target those children most in need, like Maori and Pasifika.”

ENDS

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