Poverty gap a big issue

Children's Commissioner Russell Wills

A Rotorua paediatrician has labelled the growing gap between rich and poor "an embarrassment" to New Zealand.

Dr Johan Morreau told the Rotorua Daily Post the issue of child poverty was a big one and a significant proportion of admissions he dealt with were poverty-related.

His comments come after the latest Child Poverty Monitor report, released by Children's Commissioner Russell Wills, revealed nearly one-third of all New Zealand children are living in poverty and more than half of those kids will never escape it.

Dr Morreau said while the gap between rich and poor could not be allowed to get wider, he believed some of the biggest gains in reducing the problem would be to look at a greater investment in parenting.

He believed the country needed to change tack with the degree of investment in the "first 1000 days from conception".

He said the focus needed to change from not just protecting children "but having aspirations for them to be the next politician, nurse, teacher ... "

"It's not just an issue of throwing money and decreasing the poverty gap, we need to get into a mindset of aspiring for these kids."

Dr Morreau said child poverty was more than just a financial issue.

"That's what we have to do to change the statistics. We can't allow the gap between rich and poor to get too big. We do have to deal with child poverty but at the same time we have to take an investment approach. We need to learn the lessons of Scandinavia and Northern Europe."

Dr Morreau said some good work was starting to be done around the first 1000 days both at a local health board level and by BayTrust.

Rotorua district councillor and former Women's Refuge co-ordinator Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said some New Zealanders believed we had no poverty here because they looked at Third World countries and said "that's not us".

"Children of course don't know their diseases are preventable. Their parents love them and the majority try hard to be good parents, but they live on struggle street all the time. There is no let up and they are exhausted."

She said if children were living in poverty situations then families were living in poverty too.

"I suspect poverty of the spirit has taken hold and that will be the enormous challenge ahead, turning this around. The cost to this country long-term will undermine future economic prosperity. It is time for all hands to the pump."

Rotorua Principals' Association president Grant Henderson, who is the principal of Ngakuru School, said globally child poverty was one of the challenges educators faced.

"Even in a decile 10 school there are times when things become tight. Colleagues in lower decile schools very much face the challenge of child poverty, but they make sure the children don't miss out and the kids still have the same opportunity and experiences as a high decile school."

He said without programmes such as KidsCan, there would be a truer picture of poverty.