Listen Now: 
The Government has confirmed the first set of official targets to break the cycle of child poverty.
The Child Poverty Reduction Act passed with cross-party support late last year introduced the requirement for governments to report on rates of child poverty every year in the Budget and to set clear targets to reduce them.
Statistics New Zealand says in 2018 there were 250,000 children in poverty after housing costs.
The target is to get 40,000 children out of poverty in those households within three years and 130,000 out of poverty in 10 years, a drop from 23 percent to 10 percent.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is also Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, says the Coalition Government’s plan will halve child poverty within a decade and establish New Zealand as one of the best performing countries for children.
She says children in poverty are more likely to get sick, leave school without a qualification, sometimes struggle to get food and fall through the cracks.
!["p_facebook"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/facebook.jpg")
& !["p_twitter"]("/site/uma/images/story_img/twitter.jpg")
Copyright © 2019, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
