Fare poorly in NZ — study

Maidaborn believed the country needed to move to a child-centred policy approach. An example would be instead of increasing accommodation supplements, where the increase just goes to the landlord, create a system to ensure that a family’s housing costs never exceed more than 25 per cent of their income.

“Children don’t do well in a country by accident, they do well by design.

“Countries like Iceland, Norway and Finland have very specific strategies in place so they know every child will do well. They reduce inequality.

“We need to put children at the centre. At the moment we design for the economy or for reasons of risk management or efficiency. Then we try and fix the bits that don’t work for particular families.”

Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft said vulnerable children were often “invisible”. He said New Zealand needed to rally together to address neonatal mortality rates, teen pregnancy and suicide.

“By signing up to the sustainable development goals, the Government has committed us to halving poverty by 2030 and this report shows us exactly why we need to do that.

“The next steps are having targets and milestones to measure progress, and a concerted plan to get us there.”

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley had not seen the report but said the Government had focused on supporting the most vulnerable Kiwis.

She cited the $2 billion a year Family Incomes Package, which will lift families’ incomes by an average of $26 a week.

“It’s expected to lift 20,000 families above the threshold for severe housing stress, and reduce the number of children living in families receiving less than half the median income by around 50,000.”

Child Poverty Action Group health spokeswoman Professor Innes Asher called the report a “wake up call”. She said 100,000 children experience severe difficulties and another 100,000 were in moderate difficulty.

Asher said we needed more extensive family income packages, to pass the healthy homes bill so all houses would be insulated and have a heating source, and said GP visits should be free for children until age 17.

Massey University director of education professor John O’Neill said children in poverty are less likely to have access to good quality education.

O’Neill cited early childhood solutions such as increasing the proportion of qualified teachers and ensuring the quality in the poorest communities is as high as possible.