Bill English. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Opinion
Thursday's Budget needs to be a turning point for our next generation. It needs to be about people, and it needs to start with children.
The Children's Commissioner puts the number of children living in poverty at 270,000. In recent times, the number growing up without what are considered the
basic necessities has gone from 15 to 21 per cent.
The presence of Third World diseases and preventable hospitalisations exacerbated by damp and overcrowded housing shows we don't need a fragmented approach, but one that all of government gets behind.
That's why this Budget needs to be bold.
On Thursday, I want Bill English to announce he will establish a Minister for Children to co-ordinate the Government's approach. And because what gets measured gets done, I want him to finally announce targets to reduce child poverty and its effects, and report on progress as part of future Budgets. Not just because child poverty is a moral issue, but because inaction is costing us an estimated $6 billion a year - in increased health, welfare, remedial education, crime and lower productivity - and we simply can't afford that.
