Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • 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 / Whanganui Chronicle

Terry Sarten: Children overlooked without Govt advocate

By Terry Sarten
Whanganui Chronicle·
24 Jun, 2016 09:25 PM3 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

A recently published paper titled The Complexities of Relationship in the Welfare System and the Consequences for Children - authored by Susan St John, Catriona MacLennan, Hannah Anderson and Rebecca Fountain - highlights the way government policy can miss the connection to adverse outcomes for children.

The focus of the paper is on relationship status, how this is perceived by government agencies and what this means in terms of benefits.

Work and Income consider whether a relationship is "in the nature of marriage" and may decide a solo mother is ineligible for sole parent support when, in reality, the relationship provides no stability or effective financial support for the children.

This may, in turn, result in penalties, accusations of fraud and demand for repayment.

Directed at adults as recipients of benefits, the policy lacks peripheral vision by defining "a relationship is in the nature of marriage" as being comprised of two elements - emotional commitment and financial interdependence.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This focus on assessing the adult relationship hides the impact on children caught up in often complex situations.

While the scrutiny of adult situations is a necessary element of assessing the need for a benefit, the circumstances of children, who are powerless in this dynamic, can become lost.

Penalising benefits where there is a question about the nature of a relationship can create another layer of disadvantage for children who are already caught in an inequality gap that can undermine their education, health and social belonging.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The paper notes that the financial repercussions of misrepresenting the nature of a relationship in a benefit context can be significantly harsher than those in cases of tax evasion where the amounts involved can be comparatively huge.

It also makes clear there is a difference between very deliberate fraud, where a person has intentionally provided false information,and a situation where the "nature of a relationship" does not represent the actual circumstance of a parent or the children.

This issue is but one where the interests of children become lost because there is no Minister of Children's Issues to monitor the effect of policy on children. We have ministers of nearly everything in Parliament to debate policy but there is no portfolio charged with specifically advocating for the interests of children.

On a more local level, Whanganui people should all put their hands together for the Gonville Library. They have proven that libraries can be community hubs that generate well-being with their knitting group.

Facilitated by Kelly Scarrow - librarian, bibliophile, mother, writer and knitter - the group has flourished as a community collective of people who see it as a purposeful, social and fun way to come together and create things that other agencies can pass out to those in need in the wider community. This lifts the health and sense of well-being of both participants and recipients.

It is a classic example of how, to quote the words of a Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song, "from little things big things grow."

Other centres are now looking at how they can emulate this initiative, adding yet another example of how Whanganui people are innovators and enablers that know how to make things happen.

-Terry Sarten is a Whanganui-based writer, musician, social worker and sometime satirist - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Departing councillor: ‘Social media abuse has got out of hand’

Whanganui Chronicle

Vintage motorcycle to honour late son stolen in Aramoho

Whanganui Chronicle

Treading water: No decision on Whanganui East Pool despite recommendations


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Warriors chase crucial win over Knights
Warriors

Warriors chase crucial win over Knights

'It's been a lot': Lawson still processing Red Bull demotion in dramatic F1 season
Formula 1

'It's been a lot': Lawson still processing Red Bull demotion in dramatic F1 season

'Wasn't pretty': Witness recalls horror scenes following cow-car crash
New Zealand

'Wasn't pretty': Witness recalls horror scenes following cow-car crash

Saints dedicate 13th NBL title to former coach Braswell
Basketball

Saints dedicate 13th NBL title to former coach Braswell

13 players win $20k each in Lotto second division – where tickets were sold
New Zealand

13 players win $20k each in Lotto second division – where tickets were sold

'Sex monster' continues to minimise 18 years of rape, violence, sadism of two partners
New Zealand

'Sex monster' continues to minimise 18 years of rape, violence, sadism of two partners



Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Departing councillor: ‘Social media abuse has got out of hand’
Whanganui Chronicle

Departing councillor: ‘Social media abuse has got out of hand’

Long-serving Whanganui district councillor Jenny Duncan is calling it quits.

19 Jul 10:03 PM
Vintage motorcycle to honour late son stolen in Aramoho
Whanganui Chronicle

Vintage motorcycle to honour late son stolen in Aramoho

18 Jul 06:00 PM
Treading water: No decision on Whanganui East Pool despite recommendations
Whanganui Chronicle

Treading water: No decision on Whanganui East Pool despite recommendations

18 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

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
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search