Data released today by Statistics New Zealand showed the urgent problem facing Aotearoa New Zealand in tackling child poverty, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney.
"Child poverty is estimated by Stats NZ on three measures - before housing costs, after housing costs, and material poverty. All three central estimates of poverty rose last year. This is the second year in a row in which the trend is heading in the wrong direction. We need action now to turn this trend around," said Renney.
"1 in 7 children are estimated to be living in households where they experience material poverty - that means 156,000 kids are missing out on essentials and living in cold and damp housing. That is the highest number since 2015.
"Child poverty is a prison that holds too many children in Aotearoa back. Unless we tackle this problem now, we will be paying the social costs over generations.
"Child poverty is not distributed equally. 1 in 4 tamariki Māori live in material poverty. 1 in 3 Pacific children live in material poverty. Where a household has a disabled person, 1 in 4 children in those households are in material poverty. For all these groups the number of children in material poverty has grown over the past two years.
"The Government is now missing all three of its child poverty targets. The Government's key response to child poverty has been to water down the targets, reduce the value of welfare support, and cut the real value of the minimum wage.
"There is no plan to help these families living in poverty, instead they are being threatened with further sanctions and penalties.
"The Government is urgently talking up the need for an economic plan, but it doesn't seem as if it shares the same sense of urgency for child poverty. Children deserve better than this Government's indifference," said Renney.
