Today, RNZ reported:
Since 2018, the government has had to report on progress towards child poverty targets and whether the Budget will help to address child poverty rates.
The latest figures, for the year ending in June 2024, were released in February this year. The rates, which did not significantly change from the previous year, showed:
13.4 percent of children suffered from material hardship
12.7 percent lived in poor households before housing costs were taken into account
17.7 percent lived in poor households after housing costs were taken into account
None of the target rates for 2023/24 were met. This was "at least in part" because of the effect of inflation on the cost of living. the report said.
Treasury forecasts show the targets for 2026/27 and 2027/28 are also seriously in doubt, with poverty rates set to remain roughly at their current levels until at least 2029.
The Child Poverty Report 2025, mandated by the Public Finance Act, shows no significant progress toward the 2028 child poverty reduction targets. In fact the National-led coalition has largely undone all of Jacinda Ardern's work to reduce child poverty rates in New Zealand. Around 27% of kids still live in households where food runs out sometimes or often, and New Zealand ranks a shameful 32 out of 36 wealthy nations for child wellbeing. National’s response? Tinkering with Working for Families thresholds and Accommodation Supplement boundaries, woefully inadequate tweaks that won’t lift the 119,000 children still in material hardship out of poverty.
National’s track record tells a grim story. Their previous policies, like tax cuts skewed toward the wealthy and slashing public service funding, have squeezed low-income families, driving up food insecurity and housing stress. The reinstatement of punitive benefit sanctions in Budget 2025 is a cruel twist of the knife. These sanctions, targeting those on Jobseeker Support, punish parents for minor bureaucratic slip-ups, pulling income from households already struggling to afford basics like food and power.
The Salvation Army rightly notes that this approach undermines the government’s own Child and Youth Strategy, ignoring the evidence that sanctions do little to boost employment but plenty to deepen poverty. Kids don’t choose their parents’ circumstances, yet National’s policies ensure they pay the price.
Then there’s the neglect of our health system. Budget 2025 throws crumbs at health infrastructure but fails to address the crippling doctor shortage, particularly in general practice. Rural and low-income communities, where child poverty is most acute, are left scrambling for access to GPs. National’s also ignored calls to incentivise clinics to boost immunisation rates, despite a worrying drop to 77.3% for 8-month-olds in high-deprivation areas, down from 91.3%. This isn’t just a statistic, it’s a recipe for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable third-world diseases, condemning more kids to grow up unwell in a system that’s failing them.
National’s Budget 2025 is a betrayal of Aotearoa’s kids. Instead of bold investment to break the cycle of poverty, we get sanctions that entrench hardship and a health system left to limp along with barely enough to keep the lights on. Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr. Claire Achmad said it best: the government must make ending child poverty a national priority. Until National stops procrastinating and starts investing in families, health, and equity, our kids will continue to pay for their failures.
