I
last spoke to some of you in mid-March.
That was an
opportunity to reflect on an extraordinary 12 months, but
also to reflect on how the future was shaping up.
In
what has truly become a sign of our rapidly-changing times,
even eight weeks later much has changed, and we can add even
more thinking and learning to how we shape the next 12
months.
Today I want to touch on that thinking, but
I’ll also speak to some of the wider challenges facing New
Zealand in 2021, especially as we head into the
Budget.
Last week on Mother’s Day I found myself in
Child poverty: High housing costs, poor quality continue as factors, Government reports say
12 May, 2021 10:00 PM
6 minutes to read
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made addressing child poverty a cornerstone of her leadership. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made addressing child poverty a cornerstone of her leadership. Photo / Mark Mitchell
New Zealand s housing crisis continues to stagnate efforts to slash child poverty, the latest data shows.
The Government today released two child wellbeing reports, holding it to account on measures introduced in 2018 to reduce child poverty.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, said the reports highlighted most children and young people in New Zealand were doing well, with many improvements in key measures.
A child playing on a playground. File image. Source: 1 NEWS
Of those surveyed, 11.2 per cent of secondary students had witnessed adults in their home hitting or physically hurting each other, and 10 per cent had been hit or physically harmed themselves in the last year.
The latest Child Poverty Related Indicators (CPRI) Report for 2019/2020 has been labelled as grim reading by the charity Child Poverty Action Group, who said it showed our children are suffering unnecessarily .
Spokesperson for the group Innes Asher said when one out of five children don’t have enough food to eat in Aotearoa New Zealand, that’s a chronic, mass emergency .
I last spoke to some of you in mid-March.
That was an opportunity to reflect on an extraordinary 12 months, but also to reflect on how the future was shaping up.
In what has truly become a sign of our rapidly-changing times, even eight weeks later much has changed, and we can add even more thinking and learning to how we shape the next 12 months.
Today I want to touch on that thinking, but I’ll also speak to some of the wider challenges facing New Zealand in 2021, especially as we head into the Budget.
Last week on Mother’s Day I found myself in Dunedin.