Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:
Mike Hosking: Attacking 'the rich' won't help Labour's anti-poverty pledge
The numbers simply don’t lie, and the government can’t have it both ways. They can’t argue how well we are doing economically, which we are not any longer, sadly, and then fail to explain why every social indicator they have has exploded.
They promised to tackle child poverty - they haven’t.
Unfortunately for the deluded Mike Hosking Statistics NZ also reported yesterday that the number of people living in poverty, along with numerous other social indicators, improved under the Coalition Government.
Four and a half hours before Hosking published his ignorant rant the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, reported:
Kiwis better off under Coalition Government
Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as Stats NZ said average housing costs were unchanged over the year, while wages rose.
…
Today’s data also showed:
- 46,000 people were lifted out of poverty in 2019 based on moving above the measure of 50% of disposable income after housing costs.
- The median household disposable income after housing costs has risen 10% over the past two years. In 2017, this measure had fallen 1.8%.
The National Party used to claim that there wasn’t a way to measure the number of people living in poverty. John Key even said that it was easier to count rodents than kids in poverty. But as soon as the right wing lost the 2017 election they and their propagandist mates wouldn’t shut up about it.
Now they will do their best to ignore these statistics clearly showing that the Coalition Government is delivering on their promises. Things like increasing the minimum wage, less unemployment (particularly for Maori) and providing increased hardship assistance to unemployed people are just a few of the changes helping to reduce poverty in New Zealand. There is of course a lot more that can be done, but 46,000 Kiwis lifted out of poverty in just one year is a damn good start.
The audacity of the right wing however to blatantly lie about poverty increasing, when it has in fact reduced significantly, clearly shows that they’re untrustworthy. You simply cannot believe a single word they say, especially old fools like Mike bloody Hosking.
