28 Jul 2010
What work counts? asks whether work incentives really improve the wellbeing of sole parents and children. It finds that despite the prevailing philosophy that work is the way out of poverty, children are at risk economically from being dependent on a volatile labour market for sufficient income. The Executive Summary is here.
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25 Jun 2010
Professor Asher reviews the effects of government policies on New Zealand children and offers some ways forward
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12 May 2010
The Office of the Children's Commissioner has published a newsletter on the Economic Position of Children. CPAG's Susan St John and Mike O'Brien have contributed two articles which can be accessed here:
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18 Mar 2010
Child Poverty Action group is pleased to publish this backgrounder on child support. It is a policy issue that is well-overdue for attention........Inappropriate Child Support policy is part of a wider picture that keeps one in five New Zealand children below the poverty line.
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23 Feb 2010
Reminiscent of the welfare attacks of the early 1990s, there is a disturbing lack of empathy for the hardship endured by the people who cannot work or who can only work part-time while on a benefit.
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23 Feb 2010
For children, harm comes from several sources, including economic hardship
due to the cost burden of tobacco, smoking-induced sickness and mortality
among parents, and the consequences now or in the future of exposure to
second-hand smoke.
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4 Feb 2010
CPAG agrees that recognising the costs involved in raising children, and assisting single income families, and/or making it easier for one parent to remain at home, are worthwhile aims. However, income splitting is not an appropriate policy response.
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29 Jan 2010
New Zealand once enjoyed a reputation in tax as an international leader. As the Tax Working Group has explained, we have lost that edge. The tax system now falls woefully short on the standard criteria of equity, efficiency and administrative simplicity.
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21 Dec 2009
New Zealand, like most other western and non western countries, has an abysmal record when it comes to achieving successful educational outcomes for children of the poor.
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5 Nov 2009
Read CPAG's submission to the Auckland City Council's review of gambling policy. CPAG argues that, at a minimum, the Council's "sinking lid" policy on gaming machines should be retained.
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2 Sep 2009
The June Household Labour Force Survey showed unemployment has increased to 6%. Claire Dale and Donna Wynd take a closer look at the numbers.
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4 Aug 2009
Child Poverty Action Group urges greater consumer protection to help protect New Zealand's most vulnerable families from shady financial practices.
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1 Jul 2009
The Health Research Council has given $810,000 to fund research into the benefits of feeding children breakfast. Child Poverty Action Group asks if this is a wise use of the money.
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26 May 2009
Next week the government begins nationwide public consultation around its controversial plans to introduce National Standards into all primary and intermediate schools from 2010. Depending on the form they take and the way they are used, National Standards could be a very damaging development for New Zealand or they could be more useful. The consultation will certainly warrant attention by all concerned with the wellbeing of New Zealand's children and its future prosperity.
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6 Mar 2009
This article summarises and reflects briefly upon the Human Rights Review Tribunal's decision (Dec 08) that the In-Work Tax Credit discriminates against some of the country's poorest children.
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4 Mar 2009
The Domestic Energy Users Network says the key question for analysis of the Emissions Trading Scheme is "will policies increase inequality?" This submission promotes more socially just economic development in response to climate change.
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27 Feb 2009
CPAG's Dr M. Claire Dale representing the Domestic Energy Users' Network told Grey Power this month why energy poverty and cold, damp houses are an urgent concern in this country, and what can be done about them.
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19 Feb 2009
This primer is intended to illustrate the likely economic climate within which Child Poverty Action Group NZ and other NGOs will work over the next twelve months.
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11 Feb 2009
Child Poverty Action Group is bringing a legal case alleging the In-Work Tax Credit discriminates against many of New Zealand’s poorest children.
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22 Dec 2008
The girls down the road, aged about 8 to 12, look well cared for, clean and neatly dressed, if a little ravenous and rough-mannered at times. They're always grateful, though, when you give them food to take home... Never mind the incentivising; it's time to think of the children, says Tapu Misa.
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