'Make a commitment to children': Charity asks government to end poverty following grim report

Save the Children are calling on the government to "make a commitment to children to end poverty", following a report on child deprivation worsening in Aotearoa.

Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey says Stats NZ's recent report, which found 36,000 more children living below the poverty line, is "really concerning".

"We really encourage this government to take heed of these statistics and measures," Southey says.

She says a lot of the discourse surrounding poverty refer to the cost of living crisis, inflation and government books.

"Very little of that talk is focused on the very real impact that it's having on families on the lowest incomes."

The report also found that Māori, Pacific and disabled children bear the most brunt, which Southey says is why they "have very little to come and go on in terms of savings".

Watch the full interview via 531pi's Facebook page below:

Speaking to Levi on Pacific Mornings, Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti says the report's findings particularly for Pacific and Māori are concerning but "nothing new".

"What we've seen over the past five or six years if not longer has been Pacifica and Māori are the most vulnerable in the child poverty statistics.

"What's important is the trend. Have we at least stabilised? Are we getting worse or are we getting better?"

Stats NZ's report uses three primary measures to determine poverty, the first two being those with less than 50 per cent of the average household equivalised disposable income before and after housing costs. Around 12 per cent of children account for the former, while 17.5 make up the latter.

The third measurement found 12.5 per cent of children live in material hardship which are households going without six or more of 17 essential items due to cost.

Reti says the trend he is most concerned about is the third measurement on material hardship.

"That always struck me as a measure where you really hit the tarmac," he says.

"Whether someone has food, clothing, all the measures of material hardship. Some of the other measures around housing can be a little bit more complicated but material hardship is easier to understand."

Minister for Pacific Peoples, Dr Shane Reti. Photo/Governor General Facebook

One thing the report did not include, which Southey says is disappointing, is families living in emergency housing.

She says families in emergency housing could have been included considering they must apply through the Ministry of Social Development.

"Those families are at the hardest end of the child poverty spectrum."

Recently the government announced plans to introduce sanctions such as a traffic light system that clarifies obligations and consequences to those on jobseeker support.

They also responded to the aforementioned report by reiterating their earlier intentions of reducing the cost of living and uplifting employment.

Reti says the direct relation between poverty, income and employment formed their goal of taming inflation "as best we can and as quickly to put more money in people's pockets".

He says that those able to work should do so and that they should take up and explore opportunities given.

"So we have two strong areas that we want to work on lead by Minister Upston and we believe that we can make a dent on child poverty."

However, Southey says targeting beneficiaries is neither new nor works.

She says it is a reductive model that pushes struggling families into the ultimatum of "do this or else".

"It's revisiting the 90s where those policies existed.

"Rather than good incentives, support and recognition that not everybody is able to access paid work out of the home.

"For example parents, particularly solo parents caring for young children at home is an incredibly important job."

She says parents already struggle to find suitable caretakers for their children alongside rising daycare costs.

"Punishing people who are not able to easily access work is counterintuitive to making sure that there are safety nets for those that really need them."

Southey says she hopes the report for the government is "sobering" and that they use policy settings appropriately to uplift impoverished families.

"Talk with us and make a commitment to children to end poverty.

"They have the levers but it's the willingness to use those levers to that we are most interested in."