OIA documents reveal Minister is considering changing long-term child poverty reduction targets
Documents obtained by Child Poverty Action Group under the Official Information Act reveal the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, Louise Upston, is considering changing our country’s long-term child poverty reduction targets.
Unlocking children and whanau from poverty is the right and compassionate thing to do. It is also a non-partisan issue. In 2018, in a moment of political harmony, National, Labour, NZ First and the Green parties supported the introduction of the Child Poverty Reduction Act.[1] In doing so they signed up to the ten year goal of halving child poverty by 2028. On the election trail Christopher Luxon recommitted National to the promise of halving child poverty by 2028.
However, documents obtained under the OIA reveal that earlier this year the Child Poverty Reduction Minister considered changing the ten-year targets at the same time as she weakened the third intermediate child poverty targets.[2] The documents suggest the Minister decided it ‘was not the right time’ and that she would continue to consider when and how the ten-year targets would be changed.[3]
CPAG Chairperson, Sally Ward states, ‘We have made a commitment as a country to end child poverty. We need the government to keep their promise and deliver the policies that will allow all children to reach their potential. We’ve made progress before, and we can do it again.’
For example, between 2018 and 2022 New Zealand saw statistically significant reductions on 8 out of the 9 poverty measures. As officials noted, the reductions ‘exceeded the average reductions required to meet the ten-year targets’ partly because the previous government ‘delivered significant investments ... aimed at lifting the incomes of low-income households as well as wider initiatives aimed at addressing the deeper causes of poverty’.[4]
However, in April this year, the Minister was advised that the coalition-government’s policies were ‘likely to fall well short of the reductions required to meet the current ten-year targets’. Furthermore, the Minister was warned that other policy changes like those to the school lunch programme and public transport subsidies ‘could potentially have a negative impact on progress towards reducing material hardship’. [5]
As previously reported, the Minister was presented with options that would put us back on track, but has so far, failed to pull those levers.
CPAG Executive Officer, Sarita Divis states, ‘We are seeking a commitment from the National-led coalition that we will retain our ten-year target of halving child poverty, and the government will do all in its power to ensure we meet those targets.’
‘Nicola Willis said she would resign if she failed to deliver the tax cuts she promised during the election. Well, the Prime Minister promised he would retain our 2028 goal on the election trail. Why are children and families experiencing the constraints of poverty being treated differently?’ Divis asks.
Ward also encourages the New Zealand public to call on all politicians in parliament to hold each other to account on this issue of national significance.
This November CPAG is launching a campaign called #PACT2028 that calls upon New Zealanders to show their support for children and whanau experiencing poverty and reminds our politicians of the pact that they have made.
Visit our website for more details about how you can be involved. Together, we can end child poverty in New Zealand.
‘If we are to meet the 2028 target then we need politicians from across the political spectrum to once again come together and deliver on the promises they made.’ Divis states.
BACKGROUND:
In 2015 the then-National Government signed up to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which included a commitment to halve poverty rates by 2030.
In 2018 all parties in parliament, except ACT, supported the introduction of the Child Poverty Reduction Act, which included a ten-year goal to halve child poverty.
Under the Act the Child Poverty Reduction Minister must set intermediate targets every three years that support the overall goal to halve poverty. Upston’s earlier decision to soften those targets means it will be harder to meet our long-term goal.
OIA documents reveal that when the Minister lowered the third-intermediate targets, official assumed she was going to seek cross-party agreement to new ten-year targets.[6]
The advice she received in March 2024 was to set the level of the ten-year targets in principle and then set the third intermediate targets.[7] This did not happen, instead she set the third intermediate targets alone and these did not align with the ten-year targets.[8]
In March 2024, officials advised the Minister that ‘the current trajectory is off-track to meet the ten-year targets without significant and timely, further investment [which would be possible through income support increases through the tax and benefit system].’ Instead, the Minister’s chosen path was (in the officials’ words) likely to have a ‘modest, and more uncertain, impact on measured poverty rates’. [9]
In June 2024, the Minister was provided with the following speaking points:
‘There is currently a mismatch between the proposed third intermediate targets and the ten-year targets due to be achieved a year later’.[10]
‘I considered changing the ten-year targets alongside setting the third intermediate targets, but decided now was not the right time.’
‘The proposed third intermediate targets are significantly higher than the ten-year targets due to be achieved in 2027/28, which is just a year after the third intermediate target period ends (2026/27). But I have set the intermediate targets in line with what I consider to be achievable in the current context. I am continuing to consider whether the ten-year targets need to be changed and when the right time to do this would be.’ [11]
[1] ACT did not support the introduction of the Child Poverty Reduction Act.
[2] REP/24/6/520
[3] REP/24/6/520
[4] DPMC-2023/24-1058
[5] DPMC-2023/23-1058
[6] DPMC-2023/24-976
[7] DPMC-2023/24-920
[8] REP/24/5/457
[9] DPMC-2023/24-920
[10] REP/24/6/520
[11] REP/24/6/520
Prepared for CPAG by Georgie Craw, Communications Advisor