New Zealand has one of the lowest levels of spending on children in the OECD, and a new report by Every Child Counts says this is an economic problem as well as a social one.
Every Child Counts Chairman Murray Edridge joined Firstline this morning to explain why New Zealand “is not the place we want it to be” and what impact this is having on the economy.
While the social cost of low spending on children is “huge”, he says the economic cost to the country - $6 billion a year - is the focus of the report.
“What we’ve said in this report… is it’s not just about outcomes for children, it’s about an economic investment for the Government,” he says.
“The downside effect of not investing in children properly means that we don’t have a fully productive workforce in the future - our health costs go up, the costs of the criminal system go up.
“There’s a whole range of economic-type indicators that say this is a worthwhile investment for any government to make.”
Mr Edridge says New Zealand has “constantly and consistently spent lower than other countries” on children, and Government plans to improve child outcomes should be more forward-thinking.
“This issue is a generational issue – you’re not going to fix it in three years so we do need governments to be thinking about a longer-term strategy,” he says.
“We want successive governments to be thinking about what they have to do in terms of a total investment in children, not just during their term of government but into subsequent years.”
Watch the video for the full interview
3 News