1 in 4 kiwi kids grow up in poverty. Every political party and people across the spectrum in New Zealand agree this is a problem; and yet, New Zealand still has no national strategy on child poverty and no official child poverty indicators. Without official indicators it is impossible to set targets and genuinely know if we are making progress. 

“Working in a piecemeal way, no matter how well intentioned, is no way to tackle a complex problem like child poverty.” Russell Wills, Children’s Commissioner.

The solution to the current ad hoc approach is to have consistent criteria to monitor and set targets against, and a national strategy. To ensure we keep at it this should be embedded in legislation.

The Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty identified a national strategy as the crucial first step to addressing child poverty.

As the Prime Minister, Rt Hon John Key, said in relation to educational standards: "If you don’t measure, monitor, and report on things, I don’t think you can make progress." (The Dominion Post, 3 July, 2012).