February 28, 2022
Homeless blank skews poverty snapshot
A public health expert says there’s no cause for the Government to pat itself on the back over child poverty figures.
The Prime Minister last week said despite the Covid pandemic child poverty has reduced across all nine measures, with 66,500 fewer children in low-income households and almost 22,000 fewer children experiencing material hardship.
University of Otago senior lecturer Dr Keri Lawson-Te Aho says that data excludes the homeless, so it leaves out large numbers of Māori including those in emergency housing where child poverty is extreme, leading to hunger and sickness.
“So I don’t think the Government has any right to be claiming or be patting itself on the back for the mahi it has done to end the poverty of our tamariki and our mokopuna when they are the drivers through consistent policies over generations. They are the drivers of this outcome,” she says.
Dr Lawson Te Aho says those working on the ground say child poverty is getting worse.