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I know that some children suffer because they have deadbeat parents. I know some kids are just plain neglected or abused, or worse. But the problem that so many families have these days is paying the rent. And it isn’t going to get better any time soon.

This year at KidsCan, we are hearing stories of children who will miss that important first day of school because they are sharing a uniform, shoes, or a bus pass with their siblings.  

Can you imagine what that must be like as a parent? Life is a relentless, exhausting struggle to stretch their money further than it can go, and the stress and shame of not being able to provide for their children is enormous.

We know we’re making a difference, but it’s not enough. How can people get out of poverty when 70 per cent of their income goes on rent?

When 14,000 families are languishing on the Housing NZ waitlist? When parents working two jobs each can’t make ends meet?

I am currently working with a family, trying to help them get a mortgage to buy the property they are renting. The landlord is doing them a good deal, but is anxious to sell. The numbers just about stack up, but the deposit will fall short. Truly, I don’t know if the bank will accept it. But if not, I really don’t know what will happen to these people. They will have to move, find another place where their rent will probably be at least 50% higher; that is if they can find another place to rent at all.

The Children’s Commissioner hasn’t pulled any punches: “We can’t sit here while Rome burns.” Like him, I want to see benefits increased by at least 20 per cent.

Stuff.

The problem with this thinking is that it is still a race to the bottom. Yes, I understand what a terrible effect poverty has on children. But simply increasing benefits is not the answer. Rents will go up accordingly because it is the cycle of supply and demand.

And no. I am not suggesting you start donating to KidsCan. You know how I feel about charities. It’s not just that though. New Zealand is supposed to be a first world country, where people are not starving or undernourished and can afford the basics of life. Relying on charity is not the answer.

Personally, I believe the answer to poverty is work. Get off the benefit and get a decent job. Easy to say, I know. But it really is the only answer.

This government has had over 2 years to do something about the cycle of welfare dependence in this country. As we all know, Jacinda herself is the minister in charge of ‘child poverty’. We now have over 148,000 children living in poverty, which is a new record. Yes, Jacinda is breaking new ground but not in a way she can be proud of.

As election year dawns, one of the biggest credibility challenges this government faces is their failure to combat some of our biggest social ills.  

The MSD’s latest quarterly update on benefit numbers is a sobering read. You’ll recall what grabbed the headlines last week was that total benefit numbers are up five per cent year on year. And Jobseeker Support benefit numbers have jumped ten per cent.

Wait. Isn’t unemployment at record lows, and aren’t many employers crying out for workers?

In the two years since Labour took power, there are now 15,000 more children being raised in benefit dependent homes.

I have been struggling with these numbers. Something is just not right here. This government tells us the economy is doing fine, but the number of people on Jobseeker Support has jumped by 10%?

Just look at the growth rate in the number of people parked up on the Jobseeker Support Work Ready benefit, since December 2017. It’s a horror show.

Taranaki, you’re up 19 per cent. The North Island East Coast, up 19 per cent. Northland, up 20 per cent. Bay of Plenty, up 28 per cent. Take a bow Southland, you’ve got the lowest increase, up 10 per cent. The Auckland region, up 47 percent.

And in Canterbury, the number of Jobseeker Support work ready beneficiaries has exploded by 55 per cent, since Labour took power.

Could it be that, while business doesn’t like Labour governments, those who don’t feel like getting up in the morning really love them? We know that there is no pressure on beneficiaries to actually get a job, or some training these days. No, that went out the door, along with the last government.

None of this is good for society though. I am a great believer that education is the way out of poverty, but children who are inadequately fed won’t be able to concentrate and will fall through the cracks. Then we will have another generation of welfare dependents which seems always to be the legacy of Labour governments.

So, this is what ‘kindness’ looks like, is it Jacinda?

Rapidly expanding welfare is Labour’s record. It flies in the face of all of the posturing on well-being. Hard metrics don’t lie. Entrenching dependence and sapping the will to work by surrendering on sanctions and failing to enforce work-test obligations is simply indefensible.

Newstalk ZB

It saddens me when I realise that Jacinda’s claim that she came into politics to solve child poverty is just another slogan. It makes her sound kind and caring. But the numbers don’t lie.  Children are worse off under this government than they were under the previous one. And that, remember, was during the ‘nine years of neglect’.

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