PM: More to be done on poverty

Jacinda Ardern. Photo: File.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the government has more work to do when it comes to helping the country's poorest families.

The Child Poverty Action Group has raised concerns about the $5.5 billion families package not doing enough for the children of the worst-off families.

The group wanted benefit sanctions removed for families where there are children, as well as changes to the amount of money beneficiaries could earn before their payments were docked.

But there was no action on that in the Budget.

Economics spokesperson Susan St John said people working on the front line with those families were seeing a growing amount of distress.

"Many families simply do not have enough to eat and that is not good enough for a developed country," she said.

Ms Ardern said the poorest families would have more money in their pockets through the families package, which kicks in on 1 July.

That was only a first step, she said.

"We're now undertaking a piece of work around the way our welfare system works and I do expect to see further recommendations off the back of that too."

Ms St John said she was hopeful the government would make more announcements soon, so families in need did not have to wait even longer for help.

The Budget included $7.9m of funding over four years to set up a child poverty unit.

The unit will advise on policies that affect poverty among children, and coordinate the government's work to reduce poverty and material hardship.

The government is also boosting funding to Stats NZ, to allow it to increase the sample size of the Household Economic Survey to 20,000 households.

Statistics minister James Shaw said the larger sample sizes would give the government a more robust and reliable picture of the incomes and living standards of smaller population groups, such as Māori and Pasifika families.

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4 comments

Everyone

Posted on 18-05-2018 21:26 | By Merlin

Everyone expects the ills to be fixed immediately.Some should have been fixed many years ago.


Ha...

Posted on 19-05-2018 09:15 | By Marshal

It would seem, the ones complaining about lack of action on Labours part, are the ones who created and nurtured the Poverty problem to start with.. Get of your high Ego Blue people.. You may need a ladder..lol


To eradicate poverty, rental charges MUST drop MASSIVELY....and they can!!!

Posted on 19-05-2018 12:24 | By Bruja

The truth is that MOST landlords to not need to charge anywhere near the amounts they are. They are doing so merely because they can. The landlords who need to charge exhorbitant rents in order to cover massive mortgages should NOT have those properties in the first place.Rents could be halved and MOST landlords would still turn a viable profit. The truth is that currently some Kiwis are literally taking food out of the mouths of fellow Kiwis. Literally keeping them from getting the medical treatment they need, keeping shoes off their feet, keeping them cold in winter. To those of you I say, "Yes, you are legally entitled to charge whatever you wish, but is your conscience ok with the result of that? Exactly how many of your fellow citizens will be in poverty before you will think that that fat bank balance is shameful?" Thin


Everyone

Posted on 19-05-2018 13:17 | By surfsup

Excellent comment from Merlin. Unfortunately the media in this country seems heavily biased towards National so much so that the problems in Education, Health, Roading and Social services that have worsened over the past 9 years are expected to be fixed overnight. Our two National MPs constantly ridicule the government for failing to address all of the above issues. Will Labour be able to make a difference?, who knows but they surely be given a chance, National bleating all the time simply sounds like sour grapes.


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