The Government's Child Poverty Reduction Bill has been reported back to the House with unanimous support from the Social Service and Community Select Committee, and will now be supported by the National Party.

Prime Minister and Child Poverty Reduction Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Committee received 632 submissions on the Bill, with the bulk of the feedback overwhelmingly positive.

Submissions reflected the game-changing nature of this legislation, describing it as ‘historic', ‘landmark' and ‘with the potential to transform the lives and wellbeing of our children'.

Submitters have helped to strengthen the Bill in a number of areas, including:

• Making clear the Child Wellbeing Strategy is intended to assist New Zealand in meeting its international obligations relating to children, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• Explicitly requiring child poverty reporting to report on particular population groups of interest, including Māori.

'I want to thank all the individuals and groups for their passionate and thoughtful contributions on the Bill. They have been extremely valuable in helping to strengthen this legislation,” says Jacinda.

'These are important enhancements to the Bill. The Committee's findings show the overall framework of the Bill is sound, and the fundamental approach is the right one. Public consultation has made the Bill even stronger.”

Jacinda says some changes were made in response to matters raised by the National Party that have ensured the Bill will now proceed with the bi-partisan support of both major parties. National's changes were:

• Reporting annually on one or more ‘child poverty related indicators' related to the broader causes and consequences of child poverty.
• Having regard to principles of early intervention and evidence-informed policy when developing the Strategy.
• Setting out how the Government intends to evaluate the effectiveness of policies included in the Strategy.

'It's important to the long-term welfare of our children that this Bill is enduring and survives changes of Government. I thank the National Party for their amendments and their support of our Bill.

'While this Bill has been considered, the Government's been busy on several other fronts improving the lives of our families and children. These include the Families Package which has seen 384,000 families' incomes boosted, extending free doctors' visits and prescriptions to under-14-year-olds, the winter energy payment to help out with heating bills and raising the minimum wage.

'This Government is committed to genuine change to tackle poverty and achieving our goal of making New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child."

National supports bipartisan child poverty approach

National will support the Child Poverty Reduction Bill after securing important changes which will see progress on reducing child poverty properly measured and National's social investment approach applied, says Opposition Leader Simon Bridges.

'No child should be living in poverty and National is committed to lifting children out of hardship. The Government has an important role to play but it must be smart, it must be effective and it must be accountable to make a difference.

'That's why it's so important we get all measures aimed at reducing child poverty right. National has been working with the Government to improve its Child Poverty Reduction Bill to ensure it makes a difference and that progress is properly measured.

'Together we have improved the Bill in two important ways.

'Firstly, child poverty-related indicators will be specifically measured and reported on.

'These indicators mean poverty will be measured not just in simple financial terms, but in areas such as income and employment, housing, education and development and health, giving a broader picture to what poverty means for some children and to help form our response.

'Secondly, National's pioneering approach to solving social issues will be adopted. Under the changes the Government must take into account the principles of early intervention and evidence-informed policy when making decisions on actions to address child poverty. This is an acknowledgement that evidence-based policies are an important way to improve the lives of our most vulnerable children, and simply throwing money at a problem is not enough.

'We want to do everything we can to support New Zealand children to be happy and healthy. That's why we've worked constructively with the Labour-led Government to ensure that the lives of New Zealand children will be improved.”