The Green Party has a comprehensive plan to address child poverty, and will start by reforming Working for Families to make it work for every low-income family. “The Green Party in Government will do what John Key refuses to – reduce child poverty across the board.  We are committed to that goal because, as a country, we can’t afford not to,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said today.   “The UN Sustainable Development Goals, which John Key committed to, call...

The Government needs to stop playing politics with children’s lives and agree to child poverty measures and reduction targets, the Green Party said today. The Prime Minister refused to commit to a child poverty reduction target on Morning Report today, following the Children Commissioner’s call over the weekend for him to do so. “It’s ridiculous that the Government is willing to spend time and money to come up with a target to eliminate possums in New Zealand, but refuses to...

Deducting $22-28 a week from the benefits of single mothers who, sometimes for their own safety, don’t name the father of their child is unfairly hurting families, the Green Party said today. The Green Party is supporting calls for Section 70A of the Social Security Act, which allows for the deduction, to be repealed by the Government. “The Government should do right by these families, and get rid of this bad law forever,” said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei. “$28...

It is heartening that the Government is finally starting to address the failure of our justice system to provide protection for victims of family violence or support abusers to change,  the Green Party said today. “Family violence is currently embedded in New Zealand culture and we all need to be brave to face the level of changes needed to address it,” Green Party women’s spokesperson Jan Logie said. “Too many families have been further traumatised and indebted trying to get...

Poverty is stagnating in New Zealand, and the National Government has no plan to help the kids from low income families who are falling further behind. ‘The material wellbeing of NZ households report’ by Bryan Perry, the most comprehensive look at poverty in this country, was released today and shows that child poverty is becoming normal in this country, and on some measures is back to levels not seen since the GFC. “The lot of New Zealand children has not...

The Green Party is calling on the Government not to stop funding Social Work Study Awards, which support social workers to gain new skills and qualifications. The Study Awards assist community workers to undertake part-time study for a degree level qualification in social work. “If the National Government was actually committed to its so-called investment approach, investing in the very people who work at the coalface in our communities would be a priority," said Green Party social development spokesperson Jan...

The newly named Ministry of Vulnerable Children Tamariki Oranga could stigmatise the very children it should be helping, the Green Party said today.

New figures obtained by the Green Party show that the amount of debt owed by beneficiaries to the Government is skyrocketing. Before National was elected in 2008, just 49 per cent of beneficiaries owed money to WINZ, at an average of $2,021 per person. Now 60 per cent of beneficiaries have an average debt of $2,584. “We clearly have a broken system when New Zealanders who are already in dire financial circumstances are racking up debt to a Government with...

Unfair differences between pre-paid and normal power prices are costing vulnerable families in some parts of New Zealand hundreds of dollars a year, the Green Party said. Analysis of the cheapest normal power prices and the cheapest pre-paid power prices in Wellington shows that pre-paid customers are paying on average $542 more every year. Nationwide, pre-paid customers pay an extra $153 a year on average.* “Too many pre-paid power customers are getting a bad deal,” Green Party energy spokesperson Gareth...

The Government’s backdown on forcing Housing New Zealand (HNZ) to pay a multimillion-dollar dividend shows that the Government can take measures to help end the housing crisis if it really wants to, the Green Party said today. “Reinvesting HNZ dividends to build more houses just makes sense and I’m pleased the Government is finally showing some flexibility on this,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “It was perverse that National was forcing HNZ to pay a dividend back to the...