Open letter to all party leaders: Making ending child poverty an enduring project of national significance

The following open letter was sent by Children's Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad to all New Zealand political party leaders, urging them to make ending child poverty a priority.

Tēnā koutou katoa rau Rangatira mā o ngā pāti o te motu nei,

Making ending child poverty an enduring project of national significance

As the independent advocate for all of New Zealand’s children, I am writing to urge you all to take action together on an issue that is fundamental to our country's present and future.

All children have the right to live free of poverty. Yet right now, nearly 170,000 New Zealand children are living in material hardship, going without the basics. Half of these children are in working families. New Zealand's prosperity, productivity and social cohesion depend on how well our children are doing today. Poverty is preventable, but it requires stronger commitment and an actionable, collective national plan.

With New Zealand’s rates of material hardship increasing since 2022, it has become urgent that this year, you:

• make reducing child poverty a central General Election commitment,
• commit to setting and meeting ambitious child poverty reduction targets, and
• participate in a cross-party process across the Parliament following the General Election, to develop an enduring, long-term national plan to reduce child poverty in significant and sustained ways: A New Zealand Child Poverty Reduction Accord.

This is what I am asking you all to do, on behalf of New Zealand’s children living in poverty.

The lived experience of poverty for our children

Our children in material hardship are experiencing severe negative limitations on their health, learning, safety and future opportunities. Hardship is impacting their childhoods today, including from their earliest years. Evidence and research shows these effects of poverty will likely have a negative impact on their lifetime outcomes, and significantly cost us as a nation.

As party leaders, you have the opportunity to make a big difference here. The decisions and commitments you make this year will help determine if all of our nation’s children can grow up thriving, or if thousands continue struggling to survive. Please do the right thing by our nation’s children who are struggling the most, by committing to the three actions this year.

Uniting around issues that demand long-term vision creates a stronger foundation for current and future generations

Recently, through the cross-party agreement on the National Infrastructure Plan, Parliament demonstrated that when our country’s long-term future is at stake, leaders and parties can work across the Parliament to develop a shared vision. I ask you to bring that same spirit of unity to reducing child poverty, another urgent, nation-wide challenge facing us.

You have done this before. In 2018, Parliament passed the Child Poverty Reduction Act near-unanimously. It showed what is possible when children’s lives and rights are put above politics. The Act established a strong foundation and many children benefited from initial progress.

More recently, progress has stalled. Our nation’s children need a renewed, cross-Parliamentary and enduring commitment to ending child poverty. This requires a clear, collective plan like other

countries have (for example, Scotland), building on the foundation laid in 2018 through our Child Poverty Reduction Act, coupled with renewed ambition and urgency.

A New Zealand Child Poverty Reduction Accord must uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, to address the disproportionate impact of poverty on mokopuna Māori. Pou Tangata, Iwi Chairs Forum, which has led work in this area, must be a key partner in this work.

The pressures are real and New Zealand’s children cannot afford to wait

Of the nearly 170,000 children experiencing material hardship, rates remain disproportionately high for mokopuna Māori, Pacific children, and children with disabilities. The data and lived experiences of children confirm the effects of rising costs, unstable housing, and pressures that no child should have to bear. Children living in poverty tell me how poverty is costing them opportunities – to be healthy, developing and learning, and to have a strong start in life.

In our engagement with children around New Zealand to inform the review of the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, they told us that meeting essential needs matters most: enough nutritious food, affordable healthcare, safe and stable housing, and support in difficult times. Rangatahi shared about the challenges of finding work and high costs of participating in school, sport and activities that help them feel connected and confident. This year, rangatahi have continued to emphasise these struggles to me at increasing rates. These realities and voices remind us that these pressures are shaping childhoods right now.

Invest in children now, to build a stronger future for New Zealand

Children only get one chance at childhood. That means children living in poverty cannot wait for the economy to improve or for geopolitics to settle. Their needs are immediate. Their current and future potential is too important to defer: the wellbeing of our children is foundational to everything we hope to achieve as a nation.

Ensuring every child has the resources and opportunities they need to thrive is the right thing to do, and a sound an investment in our present and future as a nation.

Please, seize this moment to do the right thing by New Zealand’s children living in poverty.

Ending child poverty must be this generation’s enduring project on national significance. Commit to the three things I am asking to set us on a course to be a nation where all children can grow up thriving with their basic rights fulfilled. An enduring, long-term New Zealand Child Poverty Reduction Accord is what is needed, given the scale and urgency of need.

I look forward to hearing from you about the commitments you will make this year, and how you will contribute to a cross-party plan in the best interests of New Zealand’s children.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Claire Achmad
Children’s Commissioner | Te Kaikōmihana mō ngā Tamariki