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Download AudioA Child Poverty Action Group member says Māori children will be among the most disadvantaged by the budget’s failure to adequately address poverty.
University of Auckland associate professor Mike O’Brien says it’s a missed opportunity to tackle structural problems with programmes like Working for Families which penalised beneficiary families.
That’s compounded by the decision to exclude beneficiaries from the $350 cost of living payment for people earning under $70,000.
“A $350 payment will make a difference to families in work particularly but it won’t help the families in the deepest poverty and that’s a really major concern,” Associate Professor O’Brien says.
He says the Prime Minister has talked of the need to build a constituency to address poverty, but the Government isn’t doing enough to lead that constituency.
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