As another Waitangi Day rolls by, there must be some question over whether the purpose of the Treaty signed in 1840 was the same as the reason for which we are now encouraged to celebrate it.
If it were about sharing, and a few freedoms for all of us, then probably not, as is highlighted by the new Government's Child Poverty Reduction Plan, effectively a mantra aimed at guiding itself and other governments of the future over a good many years to come.
New Zealand should, however, be looking for earlier returns, but it is doubtful we will all be on the same page in any great hurry, given that one person's poverty is essentially driven by another's greed.
While we have people who desire wealth way beyond their needs and can achieve it then we will have people who will have debt way beyond their control, and can do little or nothing about it.
It's an irony that that remedy focuses on increases in household income, when the increased spending that goes with it is simply part of the vicious cycle. The term "reduction" that might be better applied - to such things as reducing household expense.
