NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Child poverty expert goes it alone

Simon Collins
By Simon Collins
Reporter·NZ Herald·
28 Oct, 2013 04:30 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Dr Russell Wills.

Dr Russell Wills.

Children's Commissioner Dr Russell Wills has decided to publish his own annual stocktake of child poverty after the Government spurned his call to publish official measures and targets.

His first annual update will be published in December with analysis by experts at Otago University, edited by a private communications company and totally funded by a $525,000 grant from the philanthropic Wellington-based JR McKenzie Trust.

He said the project would not involve any taxpayers' money and he did not need to get it signed off by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, who appointed him in 2011 for a five-year term.

He said the minister had been kept fully informed.

An expert advisory group appointed by Dr Wills last year proposed a new law requiring the Government to measure child poverty, set targets to reduce it, and report annually to Parliament on progress towards those targets.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Finance Minister Bill English, who chairs the ministerial committee on poverty, ruled out both measures and targets, saying measures of "relative poverty" made no sense because they did not show how rich or poor people were in absolute terms.

In Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair promised in 1999 to halve child poverty by 2010 and eliminate it by 2020. Britain's Child Poverty Act defines poverty in four ways - a relative measure of less than 60 per cent of median income, an absolute measure of below 60 per cent of a fixed base income, a measure of specific kinds of "deprivation", and persistent poverty lasting more than three years.

The Child Poverty Action Group says child poverty did fall by a quarter up to 2005, due mainly to increasing employment for sole parents, higher child tax credits and more spending on early education and care. But progress stalled after that.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dr Wills' expert group proposed five similar measures charting relative and absolute poverty, deprivation, persistent poverty and "severe" poverty.

Most of the data required for the measures is already published annually by the Social Development Ministry but Dr Wills said it needed to be interpreted for the public. He cited TV3's The Vote in June, where he was challenged about a figure in the ministry's report that 60 per cent of the median income for a family of two parents and two children, after housing costs, was $600 a week or about $30,000 a year.

"So there's people thinking that everybody [who is poor] is on $30,000," he said. "They are not. If you look at the graph of people by income, the graph is really steep, so 60 per cent is the top of a really steep curve which falls away steeply below that, so of all the people under $30,000 the median is about $10,000. It's tiny."

McKenzie Trust director Iain Hines said his trust would pay $400,000 over the next five years to the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service at Otago University to analyse the data and $125,000 over five years to Dr Wills' office to edit and publish the annual poverty report.

Discover more

New Zealand

Nici Wickes: The hungry and the heartbroken

20 Oct 11:52 PM
New Zealand

Welfare reforms affecting kids - CPAG

22 Oct 06:37 AM
New Zealand

13,000 parents' benefits cut

22 Oct 04:30 PM
New Zealand

Wairarapa has to fight the growing social divide

27 Oct 05:00 PM

Labour children's spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern said a Labour Government would legislate to require annual child poverty measures and targets.

Ms Bennett said the Government had a proud record of putting children and their families first.

"This track record spans across health, education, housing and social development and is evident in the Government's consistent approach to the most vulnerable New Zealanders.

"I welcome the group's focus on children and this Government is addressing in full or in part around two-thirds of the recommendations put forward. We'll continue with our multi-faceted strategy to help low-income and vulnerable families."

Dr Russell Wills

• May 2011: Appointed Children's Commissioner for his reputation in tackling family violence.
• Oct 2011: Set reducing child poverty as first of seven points in proposed "children's action plan''.
• March 2012: Appointed expert group on child poverty.
• Dec 2012: Group's proposals to define child poverty measures and set targets rejected.
• Oct 2013: Dr Wills says he will use philanthropic money to publish his own child poverty measures

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Govt response given 'modest' grading

An expert group on child poverty has given the Government a "modest" grade for taking some action on 23 of 78 recommendations the group made in a landmark report last year.

The expert group, appointed by Children's Commissioner Dr Russell Wills, says in a progress report today that actions so far are pleasing, but "more needs to be done".

"Our own assessment of the Government's 2013 Budget and other announcements is that at least 23 of the expert advisory group's 78 recommendations are being either partially or wholly addressed," it says.

The Government has given $9.5 million over five years to a school breakfast programme run by Fonterra and Sanitarium, agreed to develop a "warrant of fitness" for rental housing initially for state houses, started work on a low-interest loan scheme for poor families, and invested more in home insulation, rheumatic fever screening and other programmes.

But the expert group says the Government has not picked up any of its proposals in the two key areas of income and health. Asked how he would grade the Government's response so far, co-chairman Professor Jonathan Boston said, "At best I would call it 'modest'."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dr Wills was more generous, calling the expert group's work "one of the most effective child advocacy exercises ever undertaken in New Zealand's history".

The expert group said the three most pressing areas for further action were adopting child poverty reduction targets, reforming child tax credits to pay the same for young children as for teenagers, and more investment in housing and health through social housing, the rental housing "warrant of fitness"and free primary healthcare for children.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Watch: Black Power gang members farewell Selwyn Robson with stirring haka

12 May 08:38 AM
New Zealand

Black Power members perform a farewell haka for Manurewa homicide victim Selwyn Robson.

Politics

Govt earmarks $100m for students underachieving in maths, new ‘maths intervention’ teachers

12 May 07:30 AM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Watch: Black Power gang members farewell Selwyn Robson with stirring haka

Watch: Black Power gang members farewell Selwyn Robson with stirring haka

12 May 08:38 AM

Members were seen performing a haka as pallbearers carried his coffin into the clubhouse.

Black Power members perform a farewell haka for Manurewa homicide victim Selwyn Robson.

Black Power members perform a farewell haka for Manurewa homicide victim Selwyn Robson.

Govt earmarks $100m for students underachieving in maths, new ‘maths intervention’ teachers

Govt earmarks $100m for students underachieving in maths, new ‘maths intervention’ teachers

12 May 07:30 AM
Abuse in state care: PM defends broken promise, emotional Hipkins slams Govt ‘injustice’

Abuse in state care: PM defends broken promise, emotional Hipkins slams Govt ‘injustice’

12 May 07:26 AM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP