Greens want to give newborns 'welcome pack'

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei with 6-week-old Paige Ruthven. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Greens want every newborn child to get a free "welcome pack" at birth including a bed, clothes and other essentials, co-leader Metiria Turei revealed this morning.

Ms Turei said the packages, valued at around $300, would be universally available and would cost Government around $15 million a year to provide.

She said the birth of a child was often a very stressful and expensive time for many parents.

"By providing these basics, we are not only ensuring all children get a good start to life, we are also acknowledging the contribution that parents make to society and helping them out a little." The policy is modelled on the Finnish Maternity Package, in which newborns are given a crib and other basic items.

If uptake in New Zealand was similar to Finland, Greens expected around 40,000 babies, or two-thirds of newborns, to use the welcome package each year.

The Greens' pack includes a flax-woven sleeping pod, known as a wahakura, which can stand alone or be placed in an adult's bed.

Ministry of Social Development data showed more than a quarter of New Zealand children in low-income families did not have their own bed.

This went against advice from the Ministry of Health, which said children should have their own sleeping environment.

Ms Turei: "There are so many benefits to providing this package for new babies. Not only does it provide financial relief, wahakuras have also been linked to the decrease in Sudden Unexplained Death in Infants." Poverty and bed sharing were both contributors to New Zealand's relatively high rate among developed countries of infant deaths.

The pack also includes bedding, a blanket, sheets, a towel, clothes, bibs, beanies, socks and reusable nappies.

Greens have already announced plans for a universal children's tax credit and a parental tax credit which does not penalise beneficiaries.