The purpose and principles of the social security act: Getting it right

Susan St John
Welfare

How can we ask families to stock up for a week when they don't have enough for today?

Michael O'Brien
Income Support

Preventing Covid-19 health inequities: An urgent duty of care to children in poverty

Prof Innes Asher, Dr Jin Russell, Prof Nikki Turner, Janet McAllister
Health

The Government’s response to lockdown hardship has been piecemeal and inadequate. Why?

Janet McAllister
Food Insecurity

A delta health crisis thrives when it meets a crisis in housing and poverty

Professor Innes Asher
Housing

Where Will We Live In The Future? The Unmet Housing Needs of People With Disabilities and Their Whānau

Where Will We Live In The Future? The Unmet Housing Needs of People With Disabilities and Their Whānau.
CPAG
Disability

No Plan, No Budget: Two Years on From WEAG, Government Continues to Drag Its Feet

Two years on since government-appointed experts recommended a complete overhaul of our welfare system, children, families, those with disabilities ...
CPAG
Welfare

"I don’t use my oven" - Life Without a Liveable Income

Interviews show people receiving benefits have been largely neglected in the wake of Covid - and how that affects their mental wellbeing.
Louise Humpage, Charlotte Moore
Income Support

What the Annual Child Poverty Stats Tell Us

Covid-19 is no excuse for Government failure to care for children. It is, in fact, a reason to step-up efforts to ensure children are protected from ...
Janet McAllister
Statistics

Does the Tail Wag the Dog?

The major Working for Families review undertaken by IRD, Treasury and MSD is taking place behind closed doors. There are no published terms of ...
Susan St John
Working for Families, Welfare

International Women’s Day? How Are the Worst Off Mothers and Their Kids Doing?

Meaningful reform to WFF is well over-due. There is much unconscious bias and implicit racism in the current WFF.
Susan St John
Welfare

Picking up the Tax Hose to Help Cool the Housing Market

The problem is clear. Monetary policy has inflated the property market with cheap money. The result has been a mushrooming wealth divide.
Susan St John
Housing, Tax

2020 Election Policy Scorecard

CPAG’s election scorecard shows our assessment of the efficacy of announced party policies in our election priority areas of income adequacy, housing ...
CPAG
Election 2020

Why Child Poverty Statistics Can Be Tricky

Child poverty stats can be tricky and they're in the news a lot in the lead-up to the election; We’ve put this information together in the hope it ...
Janet McAllister
Statistics

Fixing Unemployment: Social Insurance and a Job Guarantee

Michael Fletcher’s presentation on social insurance as an unemployment response for New Zealand post-Covid.
Michael Fletcher
Welfare

On COVID-19 Resurgence in Tāmaki Makaurau

Where is digital exclusion in the COVID19 psychosocial & mental wellbeing recovery plan?
Wellbeing

Let’s See All Mums Get a Fair Go

This crisis has taught us a lot about ourselves and our collective strength as a community.
Georgie Craw
Welfare

Helping or Harming? Compulsory Income Management in Australia and New Zealand

Imagine that during the Covid-19 lockdown you had no means to buy online goods, because your EFTPOS-like card could only be used in person at a ...
Louise Humpage
Welfare, Incomes

What Is to Become of Our Housing Post Covid-19?

We need to be wary of the law of unintended consequences as we contemplate what our post-Covid-19 future might look like.
Alan Johnson
Housing

New Zealand's Welfare System Fails to Recognise the Dignity of Our People - How Can We Fix It?

New Zealanders believe in justice. We care about protecting our right to a dignified and decent life. An effective welfare system is only serving its ...
Saralee Gore
Welfare

In 2020 the NZ Govt Should Take a Leaf out of Alberta's Book

In 2020, the big question will be, can the Government end child poverty in Aotearoa? The answer is yes, but the steps need to be bold, and a shining ...
Claire Dale
Child Poverty

Dear New Zealand Government, this Christmas Families Want a Light at the End of the Tunnel

Many of us are anxious about the tally of expenditure and what that will mean for the year to come.
Jeni Cartwright
Welfare

Government Shouldn't Sit on $7.5b Surplus while Families Need Help

Tuesday's announcement from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson about a whopping $7.5 billion surplus came as a ...
Innes Asher
Welfare

Children are Taonga, Handle their Dreams with Aroha

My teammates and I recently spent time in a classroom of children at a decile 2 school, talking about hopes and dreams, and what’s needed to achieve ...
Jeni Cartwright
Welfare

Let's Give Kids What They Want - Their Rights

When New Zealand’s tamariki and rangatahi were consulted about wellbeing, they responded with the kind of clarity, insight and brutal honesty that my ...
Renee Manella
Children's Rights

Define The Relationship: DTR Work and Income-Style

Everyone, no matter how much they earn, should have the right to choose who they love and live with. But if you're a single parent on income support ...
Renee Manella
Relationships

Still Smarting from that Not-Too-Long-Ago Budget

With all the tools in our kit to finally revamp our failing social support system, the 2019 Wellbeing Budget could have been transformational for ...
Renee Manella
Budget 2019

Let Beneficiaries Keep More Earnings: A Letter to Jacinda, Grant and Carmel

Rather than encouraging beneficiaries to do more paid work if they can, the current thresholds have exactly the opposite effect.
Anne Else
Incomes

Act Urgently - Change Fundamentally. The Time is Now.

There’s a line in the Executive Summary of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) report that sums things up perfectly: “Urgent and fundamental ...
Renee Manella
Welfare

New Zealand's Disability Allowances are Failing Disabled Children

In 2013, the median payment rate for disability allowances for children in the United Kingdom was almost three times higher than in New Zealand.
Sam Murray
Disability Allowance

Home Truths About the Tricky In-Work Tax Credit

If the income from work is not in itself an incentive, and needs to be topped up by the government to make it worth the effort, then that raises ...
Renee Manella
Working for Families

Parents Aren’t Asking for the Earth, Just a Safe, Affordable Home for Their Kids

The latest announcement from Housing Minister Phil Twyford on the new Healthy Homes standards is really great news. The new standards will mean ...
Jeni Cartwright
Housing

Back-To-School Costs: a Looming Spiral of Debt

Single parents on low incomes are always treading water. The problem is that when we start the year facing several hundred dollars of costs, well, ...
Renee Manella
Education, Incomes

The Recovery Phase of Christmas - Is There Really Such a Thing?

Doing Christmas ‘on the cheap’ is not as easy as many suggest it is, and often with the best of intentions those who try still end up spending more ...
Jeni Cartwright
Incomes

The Power of Manaakitanga: The Socially-Inclusive Practice of Sharing Food Amongst High School Students

The essence of ‘manaakitanga’ is in demonstrating hospitality, showing respect and generosity and providing support for others. It is the foundation ...
Therese Luxton
Education

Taskforce Report Has the Future Success of All Schools and Students at Its Heart

The Tomorrow’s Schools Independent Taskforce recommends system and structural changes which will require far greater ‘working together’ and will ...
Vicki Carpenter
Education

Time to Fast-Forward to a Future Where Tenants Have Control of Their Housing Situations

Landlords can evict a person for lots of reasons, or for no reason. Maybe this made sense in 1986; the policy context was different. Renting was seen ...
Sara Epperson
Housing

Important Questions From an Advocate at the Coalface

In her work as an advocate who supports beneficiaries with their Work and Income (WINZ) appointments, author Pip Colgan sees many heartbreaking cases ...
Pip Colgan
Incomes

World Food Day: Fill Tummies, Grow Minds and Have #Zerohunger in NZ

On World Food Day, let’s really talk about about securing #ZeroHunger schools in New Zealand where every child is nutritiously fed at every school ...
Becky Little
Food Insecurity

About that Winter Energy Payment...

Why some struggling families miss out on the Government's Winter Energy Payment over winter, while many over-65s not in need get it automatically?
Mary Mowbray
Winter Energy Payment

Launch of the Greens Campaign on Welfare Reform

Congratulations to the Green Party for their initiative that calls for an overhaul of the welfare system which is no longer ‘fit for purpose’. 2018 ...
Susan St John
Social Security

Fill a Hungry Belly or Meet Nutritional Guides? The Impossible Choices Facing Low-Income Families.

Families make ends meet in a number of ways. A common method of survival is to increase uptake of inexpensive highly-processed products. These are ...
Rebekah Graham
Food Insecurity

Money Week 2018: Weathering a Perpetual Storm

‘Money week’ is like birthdays and Christmas – they are not something you look forward to if you don’t have any money.
Claire Dale
Money Week

Recognising the Vital, Unpaid Work That Secures Our Future

How much are caregivers of the young worth to an ageing society? In the years to come, a growing demographic of retired baby boomers will be evermore ...
Jeni Cartwright
Working for Families

A Heartfelt Letter Penned by "Ms F"

Welfare

Working for Families Is Not a Trap, It’s a Run-Down House in Need of TLC

People should be wary of recent criticism of Working for Families (WFF) tax credits as being a poverty trap. The problem is not the system itself, ...
Jeni Cartwright
Welfare

Severe Deprivation - The Harsh Reality for 140,000 Children

Why are we deducting money that is intended for children’s basic needs, from meagre incomes, just to claw back potential child support losses that ...
Jeni Cartwright
Welfare

Banks Blacklist Truck Vendors and Predatory Lenders. Time for the Government to Act

On 18 April, responding to Sarah Hall’s story on Newsroom about truck vendors, Kris Faafoi, the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister, said there ...
Claire Dale
Debt

Human Rights, Housing and Child Poverty - Where Do We Stand?

How well is New Zealand doing to ensure it upholds its international obligations to human rights, especially where they relate to children?
Jeni Cartwright
Children's Rights

Dilapidated Rental Homes Are a Health Hazard for Children

A good tenancy contract shouldn’t be felt or considered a privilege, it should be a right. As renters, and as parents, we should be assured of ...
Jeni Cartwright
Housing

Fighting for a Fairer Welfare System

Vanessa Cole, Co-ordinator for Auckland Action Against Poverty spoke at CPAG’s launch of our new report “Further fraying of the welfare safety net”, ...
Vanessa Cole
Welfare

A Richer New Zealand Curriculum Is Possible Without National Standards

Raising achievement is not gained by assessments which check whether a child is at a particular level. Yet testing became the overarching norm to ...
Dr Vicki Carpenter
Education

When Is MSD Going to Give Up Its Damaging and Arcane Views Towards Sole Mothers Who Repartner?

Should sole parents who are fighting just to get by, and to raise healthy children, really be considered fraudulent, if all that’s happened is they ...
Jeni Cartwright
Welfare

When the State Turned Away: Sarah’s Story

With all the rhetoric around domestic violence and women and children it’s hard to believe that even today when women experience hardship and reach ...
Therese Luxton
Welfare

It’s Money Week, Let’s Talk About Debt for Low-Income Families

CPAG talks to Robert Choy, executive officer at Ngā Tangata Microfinance about high-interest debt and its effects on low-income families.
CPAG
Incomes

Box-Checking Is a Game of No Responsibility

A worker at the coalface (who chooses not to be named) tells CPAG about the disparities in social service organisations across the nation, and the ...
Anonymous
Social Security

Sick Children Will Be Helped by Healthy Homes Bill

With winter now well set in, emergency departments around New Zealand are being inundated by our most vulnerable population- our children.
Innes Asher, Chloe Humphrey
Housing

Befuddling Figures Will Not House Families in Need

It’s time our Government stopped confusing the nation with its baffling numbers and vague talk of housing projects, and showed New Zealanders a real ...
Jeni Cartwright
Housing

Dispelling the Myths of Food Poverty

There's a mountain of research to show that when it's incredibly hard to make ends meet, it's food that takes the hit, because it's the only flexible ...
Anne Else
Incomes

Making Sense of the Government’s Housing Numbers

Social Housing Minister Amy Adams’ claims of 72,000 social housing units by 2021 deserves special scrutiny because this number doesn’t exist in the ...
Alan Johnson
Housing

Would You Buy Your Child’s Future From This Man?

There is a world of difference between a customer and a citizen. A customer buys goods and services; a citizen is a member of a country and has ...
CPAG
Budget 2017

Will the Real Home Truths Please Stand Up?

The New Zealand Herald’s recent “Home Truths” series brought some significant insights into New Zealand’s unaffordable housing crisis. The enormous ...
Bex Rillstone
Housing

Poverty and Debt: A Family in Crisis

CPAG
Debt, Poverty

Wild West in the Suburbs

The World Bank consistently ranks New Zealand as first out of 190 countries for ease of doing business, starting a business, protecting minority ...
CPAG
Debt, Poverty

Supporting “Hard-Working Families”?

Why do we need tax credits? Tax credits keep the whole shebang of family income afloat. Wages are now so far behind the basic costs of living that, ...
Emily Keddell
Working for Families

Children Deserve the Best Education, All the Time

There is something profoundly pleasing in reading of innovation and success in one of New Zealand’s low-decile schools.
Vicki Carpenter
Education

The Smoke and Mirrors of Benefit Figures

The latest figures released by the Ministry of Social Development show numbers of Sole Parent Support recipients are dropping. But a lack of ...
Alicia Sudden
Welfare

Quality, Inclusive Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa New Zealand: Under-Funded and Neglected

Quality inclusive early childhood care and education (ECCE) benefits everybody immediately and into the long term. Low quality ECCE has a negative ...
Bernadette Macartney
Guest Blog, Education

So, How Are We Making Our Investments?

Much has been said and written about 'social investment' this year, and undoubtedly even more will be made of the idea in 2017.
Michael O'Brien

Targeting Single Health Issues Will Not Fix Child Poverty

Health issues arise from a range of complex environmental, social, and physical reasons. The solutions to them are rarely linear.
Nikki Turner
Health

Tenure Security Is Bigger Than Longer Leases

Our tenancy laws are well overdue for an overhaul.
Alan Johnson
Housing

The Slow Demise of the Accommodation Supplement

As any long-term tenant will know, rents have moved on considerably since 2005. There are various measures for rent inflation and if some are to be ...
Alan Johnson
Housing

High School Students and Poverty: What Does It Mean to Them?

Therese Luxton of Child Poverty Action Group, visited James Cook High School in Manurewa to discuss with students what poverty is like for real New ...
Therese Luxton
Poverty

From the Cradle

Magnanimity, no matter how pure hearted, is not a sustainable basis for a social welfare state. The only sustainable basis is mutual interdependence ...
Eliza Prestidge Oldfield
Working for Families

The Links Between Mould, Cold and Children’s Learning

Unhealthy and insecure accommodation has adverse effects on children’s health and wellbeing, which in turn affects their learning and development.
John O'Neill
Health, Housing

Child Poverty - A Medical Student’s Perspective

Even if as a doctor you are doing your best while the boy is in hospital, the improvement you can make is limited by the home environment.
Frances Oliver
Guest Blog, Health, Housing

Can You Pick Which One of These Young People Might Be Homeless?

April 15th is Youth Homelessness Matters Day, and Lifewise and Youthline are joining forces to raise awareness about youth homelessness in New ...
Rebekah Sherriff
Housing, Guest Blog

I Grew up Hungry: Why I Give to Child Poverty Charities

My three sisters and I never had breakfast, and packed lunches were something mythical. They were something that other kids got out of their ...
Rebekah Sherriff
Guest Blog

We Must Get On the Same Page About Child Poverty Numbers

Through no fault of their own thousands of children live in households with incomes that scarcely cover the basics, least of all luxuries such as a ...
Donna Wynd
Child Poverty, Guest Blog

Why Do We Send Some of the Poorest Mothers in New Zealand to Jail?

We need to change the law so that we no longer send women convicted of benefit fraud to jail. The main people who are being punished when we do this ...
Catriona MacLennan
Guest Blog, Debt