1News: 'Unacceptable': Children's Commissioner says child poverty progress has stalled.
New figures released today show there has been no significant improvement in child poverty over the past year. Around 14.3 per cent of children in Aotearoa, nearly 170,000 tamariki, are living in material hardship. This is the highest level in a decade.
Material hardship means families struggling to afford basics like food, heating, clothing and transport. For tamariki Māori, Pacific children and disabled children, the rates are much higher.
Louisa Wall speaking on behalf of Kaitiaki Hauora, said the figures reflect policy choices, not inevitability.
“Child poverty does not happen by accident. When one in seven children live in material hardship, and one in four tamariki Māori, one in three Pacific children, and one in four disabled children experience that hardship, it is because we are not adequately supporting their families. Poverty is a policy choice.
“By failing to invest in income support, secure housing, food security, and accessible healthcare, we are allowing preventable illness to take hold and entrenching inequitable health outcomes that will last a lifetime.”
She said early support and proper investment matter.
“When families are not supported early, children pay the price. Underfunding primary care, mental health services, and whānau-centred care means conditions go untreated, stress compounds, and preventable illness becomes crisis care. Prevention is about backing families before harm occurs. Without sustained public investment, inequitable health outcomes are not unfortunate consequences, they are predictable results.”
She said Te Tiriti obligations must sit at the centre of any response.
“If we are serious about equity, we must be honest about responsibility. Te Tiriti o Waitangi requires active protection and equitable outcomes for tamariki Māori. When policies fail to prioritise Māori, Pacific, and disabled children, and fail to properly resource their whānau, we are perpetuating structural inequity. Prevention must begin with strengthening families, or we will continue to reproduce the same disparities generation after generation.”
In many communities where poverty is most prevalent, GP clinics are not taking new patients. The practices that are enrolling patients may be an hour’s walk away. For families without reliable transport, getting a sick child seen quickly becomes difficult, or simply does not happen.
Delays in primary care mean small problems become bigger ones. Preventable conditions end up in emergency departments. Children miss school. Whānau carry stress that no family should have to carry.
Dr David Galler said Kaitiaki Hauora is appalled that material hardship has reached a 10-year high.
“Nearly 170,000 tamariki living in material hardship should stop us in our tracks. Every New Zealander should feel the weight of that. We have allowed this to happen.
“A properly funded public healthcare system, grounded in Te Tiriti and focused on equity, is an essential part of turning this around. Secure income, warm housing, good nutrition and decent working and living conditions all go hand in hand with strong public health services. These are policy choices. We can choose differently.”
Child poverty and health cannot be separated.
When families lack the basics, children are more likely to experience preventable illness and less likely to access early care. In communities where primary healthcare is already hard to access, small problems can quickly become bigger ones. That increases pressure on a system that is already underfunded and stretched.
It is far better to prevent hardship in the first place. Raising families out of poverty improves children’s health and reduces long-term demand on hospitals and emergency services. Everyone benefits from a system that is less stretched and more focused on prevention.
If we are serious about improving outcomes for children, especially those most affected by inequity, we must invest early, invest properly, and ensure access to affordable, local primary healthcare.
Child poverty is not inevitable. It reflects decisions about income support, housing, wages, healthcare and social protection. The wellbeing of tamariki should sit at the centre of those decisions.Read the report here, and watch the 1News coverage below with Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad.
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