Spend My Super asks each NZ Political Party their Policy On Child Poverty
Spend My Super’s vision is an Aotearoa New Zealand where all children have a fair chance to thrive and succeed.
But this vision is not a reality for hundreds of thousands of children. Our charity partners, working in communities around the country, see the impact of child poverty every day; they see the lost potential and the lack of hope that pervades some of our neighbourhoods.
We know child poverty is an issue our Super Community feels deeply about; they care about giving all kids a ‘fair go’. The policies our future government implements in 2020 will have a very real impact on the future of today’s children – their health and educational outcomes and their employment potential.
The role of policy is powerful. So, in the lead up to the election we invited our political leaders to share, in 500 words, their policies for addressing child poverty to change the future trajectory of hundreds of thousands of our Kiwi kids. We also asked for specific policy requests for the future government from a selection of the charities the Spend My Super community supports. Their responses are below.
Political Party Responses
Labour Party
“No government’s job is done until no child lives in poverty in New Zealand. We want to halve child poverty within a decade and cement New Zealand as one of the best places in the world to be a child.”
increase the minimum wage to $20 per hour
provide a free and healthy school lunch programme to 200,000 children by Term 3 2021
extend free doctors’ visits to 13-year-olds, and making doctors’ visits $20-$30 cheaper for Community Services Card holders
National Party:
“Every child deserves the best start in life so they have the opportunity to achieve their full potential. National stands by its value of the equality of opportunity for all children, irrespective of their upbringing, to get ahead.”
Social Investment approach to delivering Government services and support
parents to be in paid employment so they are able to provide for their family and have more choices in life
increase support for the first 1000 days of a child’s life
Green Party
“As we come together as a community to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19, the decisions we make must put children first. All kids deserve a good start in life…”
introduce a guaranteed minimum income as a new base rate for all benefits
increase the Best Start payment and make this universal for all children under three years old.
Simplify and increase Working for Families tax credits
New Zealand First
“New Zealand First has previously articulated that there is no such thing as Child Poverty, there is Family Poverty and so we have focused our efforts on supporting and strengthening families.”
bring back Universal Family Benefit
update and reintroduce the 1958 & 1964 Family Benefits (Home Ownership) Acts to allow capitalisation for home ownership
Children and Families Package
The Opportunities Party
“There is nothing more important for reducing child poverty than dealing with the rising costs of housing. The source of New Zealand’s growing inequality and biggest driver of poverty is housing.”
tax housing at the same level as other assets to keep house prices flat
support alternative ownership models, including cooperatives and rent-to-own schemes.
a Universal Basic Income (UBI)
This article has been republished with approval from Spend My Super,an organisation that is committed to finding new ways to help children in poverty. By uniting Kiwi over 65’s, Spend My Super is helping solve child poverty by enabling them to easily share their surplus superannuation with trusted charities, each chosen for their real impact.
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