Experts lament state of NZ child poverty

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Experts lament state of NZ child poverty

3News NZ

Six of this country’s foremost experts on child poverty were asked by Campbell Live what they think the impact of poverty is on the children themselves.

For those who ask what child poverty is or question its actual prevalence, in New Zealand the OECD has done some work. It’s very hard to compare country with country, but in 2009 the OECD did exactly that.

For the first time in history, the organisation compared the children of its 30 member nations. It found:

“Material conditions for Kiwi kids are relatively poor. Average family incomes are low by OECD standards, and child poverty rates are high.”

The OECD then looked at a number of key indicators – “comparative policy-focused child wellbeing in 30 OECD countries”. New Zealand’s average position is 20th. Countries that were above average in any of the key childhood indicators were rated blue – blue is good. The very sad thing is New Zealand is one of only six countries with no blues. We are below average in all the key indicators.

The OECD concluded:

“Based on international evidence, the OECD concludes that New Zealand should spend considerably more on younger, disadvantaged children.”

Some of that may surprise New Zealanders, but it doesn’t surprise those working with disadvantaged Kiwi children.

Watch the video to see what they had to say.

Lunchbox Day

This Friday September 28 is Lunchbox Day. You'll be able to text an automatic $3 donation to shout a child lunch.

If you're a school or business and you want to host gold coin days, or other fundraisers, please let us know by emailing us at campbelllive@tv3.co.nz.

Campbell Live is going to make the day a celebration of community and kindness, and try to help KidsCan towards the extra $1.8 million it needs to provide school lunches for children in our decile one through four schools.

If you'd rather just raise some money and stay out of the limelight, the bank account details are as follows:

KidsCan Charitable Trust: ASB BANK 12 3026 0348180 03

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Comments

7/05/2013 10:39:54 p.m.

fmacskasy.wordpress.com wrote:

"pete wrote: Its a parents responsibility to nurture,care,love ,feed and clothe their children,not the Governments,unfortunately there are a lot of people who shouldn't have children and these are the kids that face the toughest future" Yes, Pete, because every child chooses which family they're born into right? So you would have children starve because parents are unable to feed their children through poverty, unemployment, debts, substance abuse, whatever? That's a poor way to look at kids who can't help themselves. Is that how you deal with the guilt - by blaming others? You should look at the situation with open eyes, rather than prejudice. You obviously chose to be born into a "good" family, in a "good" country, right? Lucky you.

29/10/2012 1:13:47 p.m.

mitch wrote:

i am doing a scoolproject on child poverty and im surprised at the statistics

23/10/2012 7:50:24 p.m.

Tanya Nendick wrote:

Please give me a way of making a donation to the homeless family in Wellington on tonight's broadcast.

4/10/2012 4:07:39 a.m.

pete wrote:

Its a parents responsibility to nurture,care,love ,feed and clothe their children,not the Governments,unfortunately there are a lot of people who shouldn't have children and these are the kids that face the toughest future

2/10/2012 12:21:01 p.m.

Greg wrote:

Every should just stop their handwringing and whining, the poor are a fact of life our social welfare systems has large cracks. Crime will take care of those.

1/10/2012 12:19:22 p.m.

Kathy wrote:

As a traditional National Party supporter I do not support John Key or his approach to this issue or many other including his most recent scandals with the GCSB and John Banks. The man is dishonest. I do not agree that education in this area is lacking either, as many schools have taught the food pyramid and nutrician for many years, so obviously education is not the issue. Lowering minimum wage is not the answer, america has more social issues and a higher proportion of homelessness than New Zealand does. The only people arguing that minimum wage needs to be lowered are businessmen, so that they can increase their profits. As a business person myself I am happy to pay the current minimum wage, our business is successful so we wouldnt necessarily be hurt by an increase in minimum wage either. Most small business people pay decent wages, it tends to be large international corporations that are arguing for lowered working conditions and lower wages and this will not help the country in anyway. Most business people are still making a profit, if they were not, they would not still be in business. I and many of my friends would happily give our tax cuts back to help alleviate the situation. What John Key is doing by picking on the underpriveldged is forcing them into the workforce to flood the job market, and in all honesty there are no where near the requisite number of jobs to go around. What this will therefore do is allow employers to pay lower wages because demand for workers is lower than the supply of workers.

1/10/2012 10:45:42 a.m.

Mike wrote:

One can ask what is being suggested and what it will achieve.

Ok, Labour is claiming our dollar is too high. Why? Well it comes down to the cost of Labour. Businesses and exporters pay wages, and if the wages too high, it costs too much to produce. Simple enough. So why are Labour saying we need a lower dollar? Well NZ the wage levels are actually too high. Take the min wage of $13.50, it is in 2011 the 9th highest in 197 countries listed, with a little movement up the list in 2012 so we are probably about #5 highest currently. The US is printing money and introducing inflation to lower the US real wages and their min wage levels to make them more competitive internationally - exactly the same as Labour are suggesting here. That can only lower real wages - sure you may have more $$ in your pocket, but with rising costs the current $13.50 would actually drop to around $10 value today! This is at odds with the Labour calls to raise the min wage to $15.

So how high is the US min wage that they need to lower it? Its $7.25 US, which is around $9 NZ, while our min wage is 50% more at $13.50. Part of our employment problem is our high min wage, and the additional costs from those min wages.

In the same way, this school provided lunches addresses nothing to solve the problem, and only will increase the problem over time. If you favour the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, and people to help push them over the cliff, then this school provided lunches will appeal to you. If you favour teach a person to fish vs feed a man a fish, then the school provided lunches wont appeal to you.

29/09/2012 1:35:48 a.m.

Kathy wrote:

When I google oecd, poverty and NZ I find many articles like this. Sound government policy is long overdue to help the 200,000 New Zealand children battling poverty, a new report says. On the OECD measure, New Zealand ranked just 21st of the 30 countries included and data showed at least one in five children lived in severe or significant hardship, while at least one in four children lived below the semi-official poverty line. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has followed up its 2008 report after what it calls a substantial lack of progress on the issues facing children over the last three years. The new report, "Left Further Behind", has been launched in Wellington and Auckland this evening. CPAG convener Mike O'Brien said governments for a long time had simply paid lip service to the critical issue of child poverty and it was time for a commitment to sound policy. ''In some ways the position of children is a lot worse than three years ago," O'Brien said. "The levels of poverty have not improved and the longer children spend in poverty the more harm that does.'' The report states indicators of social distress are paralleled by reports of third world diseases like rheumatic fever, homelessness, poor dental health, hunger and family dysfunction. According to the report, policies such as Working for Families have still left the poorest children far behind their peers. Nothing has changed to correct this situation and in the meantime it has been made worse by natural disasters and a recession. Increased applications for hardship grants and food parcels have been direct consequences of the poverty arising from inadequate benefits. O'Brien said if the status quo was maintained, the situation for those worst affected, namely Maori and Pacific Island children, would simply get worse and the social and economic consequences for the country would be huge http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5610939/Quarter-of-Kiwi-kids-in-poverty

28/09/2012 11:01:15 p.m.

mo wrote:

New Zealand's poor OECD stats are a direct indication of our economic failure. The Left will enivatably blame the free market policies of successive governments (.....even though New Zealand has never really been a true free market but that's a different issue); in reality there has been much that has conspired to create this failure and this looming social crisis. Ironically, one of the contributors to our low economic growth is the continually growing burden of the Welfare State. Afterall, the government is still borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars every week just to get the how show running -- HOW MUCH LONGER CAN THIS POSSIBLY CONTINUE? The only thing that will save this country and our children from the misery of poverty is real economic growth -- not from the flash Harries who make money from wheeling and dealing ....but from real creative producers providing jobs and much needed export dollars. Far too many New Zealanders still look to government for all the solutions -- HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING? Politicians don't create jobs: ordinary New Zealanders with ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit do. Lets get behind the creators ....and make it easier for the small businessmen and women to actually do business in this country. Lets foster a society where charity is more common than welfare. The State has replaced the community that once cared for family, friends, and neighbours. People turn to government departments rather than their community -- this has been very destructive and divisive to our society.

28/09/2012 10:20:04 a.m.

serenity wrote:

i think that child poverty is horrible