VITAL ISSUE: John Key was heartened by Northland's commitment to addressing child poverty.
VITAL ISSUE: John Key was heartened by Northland's commitment to addressing child poverty.
Prime Minister John Key has acknowledged more needs to be done to tackle child poverty after a campaign on the issue by the Northern Advocate. The campaign, called "Dear John", had leaders from Northland write letters to Mr Key with their ideas on how child poverty should be addressed.
Thesix published letters, along with many comments and letters from readers, were presented to the Prime Minister's office by Whangarei's National MP Shane Reti. In a written response to the campaign, the Prime Minister said possible solutions to the issue were being investigated as a matter of urgency by his officials.
The Dear John campaign was forwarded to these officials and would help formulate their advice, which the Prime Minister will then present to Cabinet.
The idea behind the Dear John campaign was that those on the coal-face of child poverty in Northland would present fresh, tangible, practical and innovative ideas on where to start.
The letters were written by Kim Peita (Moerewa School), Sherry Carne (Whangarei Child Poverty Action Group), Buddhi Wilcox (Food for Life), Conrad LaPointe (Habitat for Humanity Northland), Lou Davis (Te Ora Hou Northland Inc) and Chris Farrelly (Manaia Health PHO).
Suggestions included a pilot food in schools programme, the extension of free GP visits to under-18s, investing in community-led initiatives and establishing targets to reduce child poverty.
