Let’s build a fairer future for all of our children
It is the right of all young people for their views to be heard
We can be proud of our children and young people right now. They are a more than one million-strong team who have given up their playgrounds, their schooling, their interactions with friends and, for some in already struggling families, had even less access to the basics while our country was in lockdown.
About 150,000 of our children were living in significant material hardship before the pandemic hit.
The period of lockdown has been particularly hard for those families in poverty, struggling with mental health issues, facing the challenges of parenting alone and with overcrowded housing.
The burden of the lockdown, and its long-term impacts, will not be equally shared.
So now that we are taking steps towards recovery, let’s not look away.
Let’s look forward to a fairer future.
Children and young people will have some good ideas and suggestions for how to get New Zealand moving. We must seek their views.
After all, it is their right to be heard. Children and young people have already told us they want more action to reduce child poverty.
They want “the basics”, such as a home, an education and a safe community. But they want more than just a minimum standard of living. They want the systems that support them to support their wha¯nau too.
Many New Zealanders have lost jobs and income as a result of the coronavirus. Our unemployment rate is predicted to rise significantly.
When the wage subsidy runs out, parents without jobs will be forced on to benefits.
Not only is the benefit well below the wage subsidy, children will be penalised because their parents are no longer eligible for the in-work tax credit.
I would like to see the equivalent tax credit continue for children who most need it, irrespective of whether their parents are in work or not.
This is critical if we want to reduce reliance on food banks and other assistance.
Stimulus spending must also be targeted to children and their families who are struggling to make ends meet.
It is misguided to “helicopter drop” cash on everyone.
Most of those who will get it don’t need it, and may not spend it.
Please — drop the cash where it is most needed, where it will be spent, and where it will support our economy.
There is also now an opportunity to change the funding of primary health care for all children and young people.
I would like the age limit for free medical and full dental care raised to 18. This would help reduce what is a significant barrier to families in accessing help when they need it.
I encourage the Government to invest in actions to empower communities and government agencies to follow the blueprint laid out in its excellent 2019 Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy.
And to consider emerging options for a changed world, like a Universal Basic Income. We all want a New Zealand that is fairer and more equitable. So, let’s continue our courageous and worldleading response to this virus.
Our children and young people will inherit this system we rebuild.
They will also inherit its financial burden.
For this reason alone, they deserve our response to not just be shovel-ready, but future-ready.