Click here for our 2020 Election Priorities for Children
All children in Aotearoa New Zealand deserve the best possible start in life.
Children should be prioritised in all relevant government actions
- Children and young people's rights, needs, and interests must be prioritised at all levels of political and government planning and policy-making.
- Children and young people from diverse ethnic groups and communities should be involved in the development of plans and strategies that affect them.
- The Minister for Children should be a senior Cabinet minister.
- High quality, accessible, and free public healthcare and education form the basis of a good life for children. This includes antenatal and early childhood care.
- Every child should live in a warm, dry, safe, and secure home.
The Government has responsibilities to all children in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Child poverty should be comprehensively measured and frequently reported on, and this data should inform targets and a government strategy to reduce child poverty.
- Government strategy should be in place to protect children from all forms of violence, abuse, and neglect.
- The state should provide support for people leaving out of home care until they are 25.
- No child should be incarcerated and youth justice services should apply up to the age of 18.
Children do well when their families are doing well
- The minimum wage should be raised (see the Green Party’s [industrial relations] policy).
- All families should receive a universal child payment in the first part of every child’s life (see the Green Party’s [income support] policy).
- Family assistance payments, such as Working for Families, should not be tied to employment status.
- Benefit levels should be increased to ensure they are sufficient to meet families’ needs.
Communities should enable children to live safe and fulfilling lives
- Children and young people should have access to safe public spaces and a wide range of affordable indoor and outdoor activities, sports, music, artistic and cultural activities.
- Healthy and safe food should be available in schools.
- Tamariki and rangatahi have the right to be respected as tangata whenua and to the implementation of their collective whānau, hapū, and iwi rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
- Government should work with Pacific peoples to develop robust policies that secure the rights of Pacific children in the context of family, church, and culture.
Workplaces should be family-friendly
- Parental leave should be increased to 15 months and parents should be able to negotiate flexible working arrangements with their employers.
- Workplaces and public spaces should be child-friendly, including providing facilities for mothers to breast feed.
