Legacy politics has failed whānau, it’s time to act

Today’s Salvation Army’s State of the Nation Report shows clearly why politics matters. Only the Green Party has a plan to end poverty. We have what we need to ensure all whānau and tamariki have what they need to live a good life.

“Political parties should always be judged on the difference they make to people’s lives. Today’s Salvation Army report is an indictment of successive governments. Politics to the bigger parties seems to be more about taking turns at running the country than it does about guaranteeing everyone has enough to live on,” says co-leader of the Green Party and spokesperson for child poverty reduction, Marama Davidson. 

“The message from today’s report could not be any clearer: Labour and National’s politics of indifference have failed. It has failed our tamariki, it has failed our communities, and it has failed our country. 

“It’s not as if thousands of children have been going hungry only since the election last October. Children have been going hungry, most especially Māori and Pacific, for many, many years; a stain on the record of every government of the last few decades.

“It is also true that the 311 families, who hold more wealth than the bottom two and half million New Zealanders, haven’t accumulated this in only the last few months. There has been enough money tied up in untaxed wealth to lift every single family in this country out of poverty for as long as anyone can remember. What is glaringly obvious though, is that neither Labour or National have had the political courage to use it. 

“There have been tables without food, bedrooms without beds, and children without shoes for decades. There is no doubt that the last government was on the right track, but it still fell a long way short of what is needed. For decades, the Green Party has been the only party with the courage and ideas to end poverty. 

“What angers me right now is that the situation now is only going to get worse under the current government. Food banks and charities have become New Zealand’s last line of defence against poverty. Which makes it even harder to fathom how any politician can come to work each day knowing that they are going to make life harder for thousands of people. 

“How can a Minister read a report like this one today and think to themselves “I know what. We’ll cut people’s incomes”? Any government with a modicum of compassion would guarantee that the minimum rates of benefit will cover life’s basic costs. But not National. No, they’d rather people who depend on benefits go hungry and cold. 

“This isn’t a question of ideology, but a question of care and decency.

“This current government is entrenching inequalities between rich and poor with little debate. This week it forced through a plan to cut benefit increases for no good reason, other than to ensure there is no debate.

“It does not have to be this way. The next three years are already shaping up to be the worst in living memory for families on the lowest incomes. But I am also more committed than ever to building an Aotearoa where everyone has what they need to get by. The next three years the Green Party are fighting for the people who need us the most - and every single day matters,” says Marama Davidson.

Latest Child Poverty Reduction Announcements

Story

Govt’s child wellbeing strategy ‘shallow and shameful’

The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a...
Read More

Story

Greens call on Govt to wake up on child poverty

The Green Party says the latest statistics on child poverty in this country highlight the callous approach that the Government is taking on this is...
Read More

Story

Child poverty report shows need for urgent action

The Green Party is calling on the Government to immediately step up and provide families on the lowest incomes the support they need to thrive, the...
Read More

Story

Green Party launch child poverty campaign

The Green Party has published an open letter to the Prime Minister calling on the Government to make some small changes to Working for Families so ...
Read More

Story

Rent controls and income boost essential for kids’ wellbeing

The Green Party is calling on the Government to immediately introduce rent controls and expand the cost of living payment to those most in need.
Read More

Story

Budget 2022: James Shaw Budget Speech

Mr Speaker, It has taken four-and-a-half years to even start to turn the legacy of inaction and neglect from the last time they were in Government ...
Read More