Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei yesterday took her
campaign to alleviate child poverty in New Zealand into the
lion's den of Social Development Minister Paula Bennett's
electorate of Waitakere.
Mrs Turei, of Dunedin, launched the Greens' policy to lift
100,000 New Zealand children out of poverty by 2014 at an
estimated cost of $360 million over the next three years -
0.3% of GDP.
"We need to act now to take care of our children and bring
them out of poverty - for their sake, and our own future,"
she said in an interview from Auckland.
Mrs Turei said there were 270,000 children in New Zealand
growing up in poverty with two out of every five of them in
the homes of working parents. The poverty "line" in New
Zealand was defined at $14,000 a year after housing costs.
Reintroducing the training allowance would cost a maximum of
$4000 a year for each person but provide overall savings of
$10,000 as people with a degree spent six months less on a
benefit.
"When I was on the DPB, I used the training allowance for
child care so I could get my law degree. I was on the benefit
for five years and have been independent ever since," she
said.
The training allowance would cost about $40 million for
10,000 people but research had shown that if parents were
well educated, they in turn had better educated children.
Policy's prongs
• Extending Working for Families to provide an extra $60 a
week for 140,000 of poorest households in New Zealand.
• Providing better study support for sole parents and
beneficiaries.
• Raising minimum wage to $15 an hour to help working
parents.
• Ensuring rental properties warm and healthy for children.
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