Source: Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) – Press Release/Statement:
Headline: April Newsletter
Kia ora koutou katoa, and welcome to Child Poverty Action Group New Zealand’s April 2018 newsletter.
In This Issue
Nationwide post budget events 2018
Child Poverty Reduction Bill Submission
Round the Bays 2018
Community film screening fundraiser
Policy news
CPAG news update
CPAG blog update
Keeping up with the regional networks
Join the conversation on FB & Twitter
Save the date CPAG summit
Nationwide Post Budget events 2018
Please join us for our nationwide Post Budget Breakfast events to learn how the Government’s 2018 Budget affects children and young people, especially those in the most precarious social and economic situations. CPAG will provide child– focused analysis and commentary on the Budget which is being announced on May 17.
This year CPAG is holding post budget events in Auckland, Wellington (joint event with PHA) and Christchurch on May 18. In Nelson and Whangarei the post budget event will be held on May 23. A detailed invite will be sent out soon.
Auckland -18 May, 11:45am – 1pm (new time)
Mt Eden War Memorial Hall (new venue)
Wellington – 18 May, 7:15am – 8.30am
The Boat Shed, Taranaki Street Wharf
RSVP here by 17th May
Manaia Health PHO
Whangarei – 23 May
Nelson – 23 May, 9:30-11:30am
Stoke Primary School Hall
RSVP to cpag2016nn@gmail.com or download flier here.
Christchurch – 18 May, 7.15am
Villa Maria Girls College
Child Poverty Reduction Bill Submission
The Child Poverty Reduction Bill is a first step in helping to reduce child poverty as it will commit and keep accountable this and future governments to measure, set targets, have a plan and publicly report on child poverty reduction progress. But the draft legislation needs many improvements if it is to sustain meaningful reductions in poverty and improvements in child wellbeing. CPAG submitted on the Bill, along with many other individuals and organisations on April 4. CPAG recommended that a range of qualitative studies should supplement the proposed measures, and that the 40% after housing costs relative poverty line should be a primary measure. CPAG also recommended that Children and families be involved in the consultation process of crafting the Bill, and that data collecting should be better resourced and more timely. Children’s rights should provide the foundation of a successful Child Wellbeing Strategy.
CPAG worked alongside Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa (ACYA) who led the development of an overarching submission from a wide range of groups with expertise on children (the children’s sector). The collaborative submission was endorsed by more than 40 organisations and individuals.
ActionStation also worked with CPAG to produce a crowd-sourced submission – with their campaign receiving more than 371 submissions which were sent to the Select Committee.
The responses show just how important to New Zealanders ending child poverty is and the support for this cause has been remarkable.
Round the Bays 2018
There was a record turnout of CPAG members and supporters at the iconic Auckland Round the Bays fun run on Sunday 4 March, 2018. The Ports of Auckland Round the Bays is an annual event that brings together communities from far and wide to support the wonderful work of New Zealand charities. As well as joining in with one of Auckland’s foremost public events, Round the Bays offers CPAG supporters the opportunity to help fundraise for us. A big special thanks all who came along in support of CPAG – they managed to raise over $650 for our research this year!
Community film screening fundraiser
On Tuesday March 20, a community film screening of Wetheuncivilised: A Life Story was held at the St Columba Centre in Ponsonby, Auckland, to fundraise towards CPAG’s work in 2018. There was a great turnout to the event and CPAG wishes to thank Deborah Sim for her tremendous effort and generosity. The event raised $340.
Policy News
Education
Tomorrow’s Schools Review terms of reference announced
A new Education Work Programme to review Tomorrow’s Schools was announced by Minister of Education Chris Hipkins on March 13. The Minister said the review will “look at how we can better support equity and inclusion for all children throughout their schooling, what changes are needed to support their educational success, and at the fitness of our school system to equip all our students for a rapidly changing world,” and “consider how schools might interact differently with their communities, with other schools, with employers, and with other government organisations, to serve the best interests of our young people.”
CPAG welcomed the review, saying that a fairer and more equitable education system is likely to be the outcome of this policy review. Professor John O’Neill and Dr Vicki Carpenter, CPAG education spokespeople recommended significantly increasing schools operational funding for all children, and promoted a ‘genuinely free’ public education.
Professor O’Neill, said that “It is imperative that household expenditure on education is reduced to the OECD average, and pressure lifted from parents to subsidise inadequate government expenditure. Increasing household incomes significantly will also ensure that children aren’t kept home from school when there is no money for lunch, sanitary items, or they experience poverty-related illness – all of which has detrimental effects on children’s learning and educational outcomes.”
CPAG is thrilled to announce that Professor O’Neill has been appointed to the Tomorrow’s Schools review taskforce, alongside Bali Haque (Chair), Barbara Ala’alatoa, Mere Berryman and Cathy Wylie.
Housing
Housing Minister proposes new Bill to ban letting fees on rental properties
On March 22 Housing Minister Phil Twyford introduced a proposed new Bill to ban letting fees from all residential rental agreements. Minister Twyford said “Banning the charging of letting fees to tenants is a good first step in improving the life of renters, while we continue our broader review of the Residential Tenancies Act. CPAG agrees this is a great start, and shows that the Government is committed to improving the housing situation for the many who rent. But a ‘broader review’ should be prioritised as urgent, with significant new legislation that provides renters with much more comprehensive protection and security, including:
- Standard tenancy contracts that offer a minimum of three years tenure security;
- Clear information within the initial agreement about what the rent increases will be, and increases should be limited to yearly;
- A comprehensive rental Warrant of Fitness, so tenants are assured that problems which have health and safety implications will be remedied with urgency, and not with the threat of a rent increase;
- No evictions without good reason, and longer notice periods given;
- Tougher penalties for contract breaches including criminal charges for serious breaches.
On top of this, our state housing supply must increase rapidly and dramatically. Children’s lives are impacted far too greatly by poor quality, unaffordable, housing and insecure tenure.
Read more in CPAG’s News Update below.
CPAG News Update
Latest press releases February to April 2018
2 Mar Warm congratulations to Professor Innes Asher
25 Mar Proposed Education Bill could be disastrous for disadvantaged children
4 April Children’s sector unites to support a reduction in Child Poverty
11 April CPAG welcomes new report on Children’s Rights
CPAG Blog Update
Latest blog posts February to April
28 February – Dilapidated rental homes are a health hazard for children
Being a permanent tenant is a part of normal life for many. But insecurity and unfavourable conditions exist at every turn; renters are faced with short-term leases and inadequate housing standards that are hazardous to our well-being, and especially children’s. We are hearing that some landlords shirk their obligations, and exploit their rights at the expense of their tenants’ wellbeing. Kate and her children were unfortunate victims of such a landlord.
11 April – Human rights, housing and child poverty – where do we stand?
How well is New Zealand doing to ensure it upholds its international obligations to human rights, especially where they relate to children? The concluding observations from a recent review of how New Zealand is performing on its obligation to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) show that there is ample room for improvement.
Keeping up with CPAG Regional Networks
Currently CPAG has networks in Whangarei, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson. If you’re interested in attending CPAG events in your local region please sign up to your closest network mailing list.
If your organisation or event is looking for support from a local CPAG on issues that relate to our kaupapa, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Nelson Update
Understanding Material Deprivation in Nelson – talk by Dr Dan Exeter of Auckland University- 12 April
On April 12, the Nelson CPAG group held a presentation about how material deprivation impacts on the Nelson-Tasman region, with guest speaker Dr Dan Exeter, an academic from the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, and key member of the Index of Material Deprivation (IMD). The New Zealand Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a set of tools for identifying concentrations of deprivation in New Zealand. Dr Exeter spoke about the development of the IMD, how it compares to NZDep and the different ways in which the IMD and its domains can be used to better understand the drivers of deprivation within the Nelson-Tasman area.
Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
For the latest news, blogs and policy updates related to child poverty, check out our Facebook page.
The CPAG social media community is growing and to date we have reached 13,300 ‘likes’ on Facebook! We are working hard at ensuring we highlight items of significance and relevance to child poverty in New Zealand, and take note of what is going on in other countries so that we can find out what works for children and what doesn’t. We also aim to keep you up-to-date on local seminars that are useful and informative, as well as events that will be entertaining, and links to campaigns by other organisations in the child well-being network.
We need your help to spread the word, and we care about what you think. So join us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @cpagnz. Contribute to the discussion, like and share our posts if you find them meaningful. We value your feedback, and invite you to private message us or email us should you have a query or would like to share something with us. Our blog posts online also invite you to comment and share via social media. With your help, we can change the narrative about poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand and make it a better place for whānau and tamariki, for generations to come.
Ngā mihi nui
Save the date CPAG Summit
This year CPAG is excited to announce that the CPAG summit is being held in
Wellington on 12th September. More details to come.
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