Children's Commissioner: Neo-liberal policies forced greater poverty on vulnerable
Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft shares his dream for New Zealand children, at Youth Space in Whangārei. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The unequal division of wealth forces at least 10 per cent of New Zealand's children to live in deeply disadvantaged circumstances, the Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft says.
''That is two Eden Parks full of the most deprived, vulnerable people in New Zealand, all under 18-years-old,'' the former Youth Court chief judge said in Whangārei this week.
''That's not the New Zealand I was brought into and it's not the New Zealand we want it to be.''
During his whistle-stop visit to Kaitaia, Kaikohe, Kerikeri and Whangārei this week, Judge Becroft blamed ''30 years of neo-liberal economic policies'' for the tragedy that 100,000 children and young people will not ''have a good life''.
He said the Children's Act and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child include the requirement for children and young people to be protected and given proper care.
A recent national survey to inform a new Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy raised three key per centages, Judge Becroft said: 70 per cent of children growing up in New Zealand have enough food, care, warmth and education to thrive, or ''a good life''; 20 per cent will have their needs mainly met but experience some disadvantage, and 10 per cent are caught in chronic, often intergenerational disadvantage.
''That doesn't have to be a life script for inevitable bad outcomes for that 10 per cent,'' Judge Becroft told the Northern Advocate.
However, other statistics and sad social facts indicate a likelihood the majority of the 10 per cent living in deprivation will not escape the cycle or those bad outcomes. Also showing up in the most at-risk families, are high rates of infant mortality and abuse.
Late in 2018, the Office of the Children's Commissioner and Oranga Tamariki (Ministry for Young People) consulted with 6000 individuals from the target age group, asking what wellbeing meant to them.
The commissioner was in Northland this week meeting with agencies, groups and young people to present the findings and the report's booklet, ''What Makes a Good Life?''.
The consultation will eventually help drive Government action to turn around the cycle of poverty.
Intervention rather than neglect could have ended that cycle about 30 years ago, but instead it ramped up, Judge Becroft said.
''There was a failure of neo-liberal economic policy ... as a nation we dropped the ball. This was during a time of economic growth, but benefits dropped in relationship to wages, the focus changed away from welfare yet the country was thriving.
''And since then, well, the rising tide hasn't floated all New Zealand boats.''
There are 1.12 million New Zealanders under the age of 18, or about 24 per cent of the population. While the 70, 20, 10 per cent equation is fairly constant across the board, there are rises and falls in some areas.
Judge Becroft said there is a disproportionately high poverty and disadvantage level among Northland's children and young people.
Too often ''Wellington'' doesn't visit the provinces — but now there is this legislative obligation for the Government to adopt optimum, ''world leading'' child and youth wellbeing policy, he said.
That stronger legislation is predicted to halve child poverty numbers by 2028; or nine years to do away with the unacceptable level of deprivation currently affecting 10 per cent, possibly as high as 30 per cent, of Northland children.
''All roads lead back to early life,'' the judge said.
Meanwhile, he began his presentation to Whangārei agencies and community leaders by pulling on a T-shirt showing Martin Luther King, standing before 250,000 people in New York in 1963, saying ''I have a dream''.
At the time the civil rights leader was accusing the USA government of ''dishonouring the cheque'', giving the black people of New York insufficient funding to live good lives.
Judge Becroft said the T-shirt encapsulated what he himself heard around the country but he had been particularly impressed with young people in Kaitaia. They knew about Luther King's speech and some could recite quotes from it.
''They even knew what a cheque was.''