Child Poverty

The prime minister sought power to lift children out of poverty and two years in is claiming approximate success. Time will tell.

Treasury has estimated the number of children in poverty would reduce to between 10 per cent and 12 per cent due to the Government's package of welfare changes introduced not long after the election. This has Ardern confident that 50,000 and 70,000 children will be lifted from poverty.

The true measure of success will be official poverty statistics, expected to come in 2020.

Poverty is measured three ways, and Labour has put both the measures and a target in law so far this term. The primary measure is children living in homes where income is less than 50 per cent of the median, currently $1016 a week, before housing costs are deducted.

When Labour launched its campaign in 2017, this measure had 16 per cent of children living in poverty.

A second measure shows 23 per cent of children are living in homes where income is less than 50 per cent of the median after housing costs. A third measure has 13 per cent of children living in material poverty, defined through a series of indicators such as lacking two good pairs of shoes, and the ability to see a doctor when needed.

The Government set an official target in May for reducing child poverty, aiming for 70,000 children, or reducing that 16 per cent figure to 10 per cent.