By Lloyd Burr
New Zealand is not often a country associated with child poverty and it would come as a surprise to many New Zealanders that hundreds of thousands of children are growing up in this country in conditions of relative poverty.
Relative poverty means going without doctor’s visits, shoes, wet weather clothing, sports and other recreation activities, child welfare lobby group Every Child Counts says.
This morning, Every Child Counts launched its campaign to get the welfare of children on the political agenda.
The group unveiled its ‘political pledge for children’ in Wellington, which encourages current MPs and election candidates to commit to doing something about it.
The pledge reads:
“I pledge myself to work with the highest priority to ensure every child in New Zealand is given the best possible opportunity in their first 1000 days by
• Clear ministerial responsibility for children
• The introduction of child impact assessments
• Development of a comprehensive programme of Government action to change the status of children that includes a commitment to ending child poverty by 2020, and strategies specific to Māori and Pasifika.”
So far, Labour, the Greens and Rahui Katene from the Maori Party have signed the pledge but National and other parties are yet to make a decision.
• Labour unveiled its children and families policy today.
A number of ACT Party MPs have chosen not to sign the pledge, a spokesperson for Every Child Counts says.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett introduced a Green Paper for Vulnerable Children earlier this year to get feedback from the public on how best to address the many issues around child welfare.
• More on the Green Paper
• Green Paper criticised for ‘offering nothing new’
“The political pledge is part of our campaign for more effective investment in children,” Every Child Counts chairperson Murray Edridge says.
“The three year parliamentary term spans the crucial first 1,000 days of a child’s life when the most important physical, mental and social development occurs,” he says.
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei says she signed the plan because she believes ending child poverty can be done.
“There are simple, affordable, and realistic solutions available to us right now to deal with child poverty,” Ms Turei says.
“Kids whose parents rely on benefits have the same needs as other kids from low-income families. They stand to gain the most from extra family income to cover the basics like rent, food, and power, but they are denied this support.
“The Human Rights Tribunal has found this to be discriminatory. Yet subsequent Labour and National Governments have continued this discrimination,” she adds.
Ms Katene says some current electioneering has aimed to demonise Maori and their whanau.
“We have been disappointed to see some of the rhetoric throughout this election campaign appears to demonise some of our whanau – implying they are incapable of feeding their own children; describing them as poor; robbing them of any hope,” she says.
“We believe that our whanau must be seen as the place in which the children can grow. I do not accept that whanau are the problem.”
Getting to the crux of the problem is no easy task and the statistics, provided by Every Child Counts, are sobering:
• About 22 percent of children (under the age of 18, which equates to around 230,000) live in relative poverty (incomes below the low-income threshold) – this means going without doctor’s visits, shoes, wet weather clothing, sports and other recreational opportunities.
• There are estimates that poverty cost the nation 3 percent of GDP – which equates to $6 billion every year.
• Māori and Pasifika children are more likely to live in poverty, leading to a disproportionate number of Māori children being hospitalised for abuse, neglect or maltreatment and a disproportionate number of Pasifika children being hospitalised for infectious diseases.
• About 160,000 children are considered vulnerable at any one time.
• New Zealand has a rheumatic fever rate that is 14 times the OECD average. The risk of rheumatic fever is nearly 28 times higher for a Māori child and nearly 54 times higher for a Pasifika child when compared to a European child.
• Over 13,000 children are admitted to hospital with conditions that could have been avoided.
• Children in the most deprived areas were hospitalised 5.6 times more often than those in the least deprived areas.
• 31 percent of New Zealand children live in over-crowded conditions.
• There are around 21,000 confirmed cases of abuse and neglect every year.
• More than 47,000 children in homes with family violence.
• More than 7,000 children leave school without qualifications each year.
• Youth unemployment is currently at 23.4 percent. The Māori youth unemployment rate is 25.7 percent. The Pasifika youth unemployment rate is 29.6 percent.
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