One News bulletin discusses the Child Commission Report

This bulletin from One News discusses the Child Commission Report (Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group, 2012). I have found this bulletin very interesting because it discussed a lot about poverty I did not consider.

I was very surprised when I found out that child poverty cost tax payers six to eight billion a year. Where is all this money going to? An Independent researcher John Pearce “estimated what child poverty costs the country each year in four key areas: poor education and its impact on productivity ($2.2 billion), health ($3-$4.5 billion), crime ($2.2 billion) and social welfare ($1.4 billion)” (Scoop Independence News, 2012). This works out to be 8.8 – 10.3 billion a year.

There needs to be change towards the way New Zealand deals with child poverty. I believe  the Children Commission Report (Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group, 2012) have given 78 recommendations on what needs to be put in place to help improve child poverty (NZCity, 2012) .  It is good to see that in this One News bulletin, some schools are already doing their best to help children living in poverty by supplying breakfast and fruit for hungry students. One of the Children Commission Report recommendations is to set up a three billion dollar a year scheme to provide meals for around 15000 children. This will ensure children living in poverty are getting adequate food, so that they can pay attention while they are learning.  Children who have not had breakfast “have more difficulty concentrating, display behavioural problems, are less alert and are often lethargic” (Halton food for thought, n.d.) at school.

One News bulletin also stated that “child welfare experts says New Zealand tolerates far too many children living in poverty and wants the government to do more” (Royal Wakefield, 2012). They want the government to start up the universal child payment scheme for children up to six year old starting at 150 dollars and gradually reducing it. John Key stated in the One News bulletin that he is ruling out the universal child payment scheme because he believes that New Zealand has a “targeted system through working through families” (Royal Wakefield, 2012).  Obviously the Prime minister and the Child Commission Report has different views on what should be used to help out families in this situation.

A recommendation is for the government to rebalance the family tax credit. This is targeted to “help large families or families with young children” (Royal Wakefield, 2012).  This will be helpfully to ensure families have the right amount of support and raise their families.Budget advise is recommended so families can direct this money correctly to children's needs.  Another recommendation is for all rental houses to have warrant of fitness to ensure that family are living in dry, clean homes. This will ensure that families are living in safe warm environments that are healthy for their children.

The Children Commission, Russell Wills,  wants a Children’s Act created in law, that will set targets for combatting child poverty. By creating this act, the Child Commission believes there will be  much more accountability from the government and government agencies (Royal Wakefield, 2012). I believe that this Child Commission Report (Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group, 2012) has been an eye opener for the government and these recommendations will allow them to work towards eliminating child poverty.

On the 13th of February the Salvation Army realised a State of the Nation annual report titled ‘She'll be Right’. This title is implying that a making do and getting by attitude that exists around social policy and human need (Salvationarmynzft, 2013). This report “reveals little has changed in rates of child poverty over the past year, while the number of recorded offences for various forms of violence towards children has increased” (News, 2013). This has labour and green urging the National government to take action to tackle child poverty. This video is the salvation army discussing the ‘She'll be Right’ State of the Nation annual report.

References

Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group. (2012).
Solutions to Child Poverty in New Zealand. Retrieved from
http://www.occ.org.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/9857/FINAL_Issues_and_Options_Paper.pdf

Halton food for thought. (n.d.). http://schools.hcdsb.org/olvm/Healthy%20Schools/Halton%20Food%20for%20Thought%20Brochure.pdf

News. (2013). Labour, Greens urge child poverty action. Retrieved from http://news.msn.co.nz/nationalnews/8609363/labour-greens-urge-child-poverty-action
NZCity. (2012). Report calls for universal child payment. Retrieved from http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=158493

Royal Wakefield. (2012, Aug 28,). 2012-08-28 - One News - NZ'S child poverty rates 'not good enough' [video file].  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvbwmx1bUkE

Salvationarmynzft. (2013, Feb 17,). State Of The Nation 2013 Summary | The Salvation Army NZFT [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHmm9tNsWtU

Scoop Independence News. (2012). Annual cost of child poverty up to $8.8 billion. Retrieved from http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1209/S00043/annual-cost-of-child-poverty-up-to-88-billion.htm

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