The latest Child Poverty Report has sparked fresh alarm, with Honorary Associate Professor Susan St John warning New Zealand is drifting further away from its 2028 targets while more children experience material hardship.
The Budget 2026 Child Poverty Report shows material hardship increased to 14.3 percent in 2024/25, up from 13.5 percent the year before. The Government’s 2028 target is 6 percent.
St John says the figures point to serious policy failures, including inadequate income support, high housing costs, pressure on food and power bills, and a welfare system that is not keeping pace with the needs of low-income families.
She says official reduction targets mean little without policies that directly lift household incomes and reduce the daily costs facing parents and caregivers.
Advocates argue current approaches are too focused on long-term employment targets and not enough on the immediate hardship experienced by children now. The Government says its strategy includes supporting more parents into work and addressing long-term drivers of poverty, with child material hardship identified as a priority.
St John says the most immediate impact would come from lifting benefit levels, improving Working for Families, removing punitive welfare rules, expanding access to affordable housing, and ensuring children have enough food, clothing, heating and transport.
The Child Poverty Reduction Act requires governments to set and report against poverty targets, but St John says stronger accountability is needed so progress cannot be pushed into the future without consequence. MSD notes the law requires both three-year and ten-year targets across key child poverty measures.
She says New Zealand must confront whether the greater crisis is public debt or the private hardship being carried by families who cannot meet basic needs.
With one in seven children now experiencing material hardship, campaigners say the country is facing a moral and economic test: whether it will protect balance sheets, or protect children.
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