Do 27% of kiwi kids need to live in poverty?

Last week I shared a story that a friend of mine experienced while he was at work. I wanted to continue examining this as it is one of the leading issues that our country, particularly our tamariki face on a daily basis.

To hone in on this issue, I want to examine more closely the delicate area of child poverty and what that looks like in Aotearoa. I researched into who's taking a closer look at this issue and came across Child Poverty. It uses a "Poverty Monitor" and the platform is a partnership project between the Children’s Commissioner, the JR McKenzie Trust and Otago University. Alongside this meter, it looks at ways in which child poverty can be decreased as it recommends ways we can tackle this issue head on. To give a better example of what they do, here's a deliverable of their stats from 2017 on material hardship and income poverty:

Above images from childpoverty.co.nz

Going on from income-related child povery rates, we can also examine how this has changed and increased since the 1980s. 

Image from childpoverty.co.nz

As the wellbeing of people is close to my heart, seeing these sorts of statistics always hurts a little. Though through the history of our country, I can see how trends from colonialism have had a play in this, but since that time, how have we not developed in this way as a forward-thinking country? New Zealand is leading the game in environmental care, being a paperless economy, and providing good wellfare through work and income on top of having good systems such as StudyLink which allows our students to study without paying full price. Engari, tonu! What's happening despite the mahi government is doing to create change. This is not small, but a raru ki tai - a serious problem. How do we have healthy trees? Prepare the soil, then plant the tree.

UNICEF adds to this issue and their research has showed the following:

290,000 NZ children - around 27 per cent of kiwi kids - are currently living in income poverty.*

A quick breakdown on child poverty by UNICEF is that there are 3 big things tamariki are missing out on:

• Missing out on essentials
• Social exclusion
• Health consequences

One of the largest problems that is keeping the fire burning in my opinion, is our abundance of cold, damp housing. If the parents are struggling to keep the house warm because of high power bills, how can they afford kai to feed their tamariki? The money used for medicine when the kids are sick cannot be spent on things to keep them warm or prepared for school. Automatically a lot of these families are on the back foot and the systems to move up this ladder are as slippery as the runny noses that these tamariki are fighting to sniffle up.

This is a systemic problem that is tightly integrated in many whanau in Aotearoa - what can we do about it? I am very aware that a lot of people are conscious of this issue and doing what they can to create kōrero around this but it is an issue that needs a lot of mahi by a lot of tāngata.

As someone not in politics, but as many other kiwis - born with the classic kiwi ingenuity these are some ideas that I would love to hui with those in power to create governmental change.

-> Get rid of all the old houses. The money in creating new ones might not be sustainable in the short term, but for the longevity of our country is much more important than that. Using what you can recycle can be put into materials to create new whares with sustainable energy such as solar and guttering being connected to grow your own kai to cut down on food costs, but allow the opportunity and encourage people to go back to our roots.
-> Subsidise sustainable energy such as solar panels made available to those who are in income poverty and are fighting to just meet their basic needs.
-> Remove the stigma and being whakama about these struggles. We are have to start from the bottom and that conversation should be had together. Strength is not found in the individual alone, but in the collective. More people want to help than most realise. How can we cultivate that wairua of kotahitanga and do whakawhanaungatanga together?

To create change in every day, Dear NZ has some create ways you can show your aroha through your resources.

Tena koe for your gracious taringa to this post.

Please see these other posts on the same topic around kiwi kids and education:
The girl stronger than fear
How should we educate ngā tamariki?