We submitted our response to the Child Poverty Reduction Bill on April 4.
DPA support the intent behind the introduction of the Child Poverty Reduction Bill as we see child poverty as a major issue for New Zealand and one that requires urgent and considerable attention.
However, our concern is that, with no explicit reference made to the particular experience of poverty among disabled people and their whānau, their experience will not be accounted for in measures of child poverty and they will continue to be rendered invisible. This will in turn mean that any proposed solutions will fail to respond to the needs of disabled people and their whānau.
It is clear that disabled people and their whānau experience disadvantage in society. What is not clear is the full extent of their disadvantage, or how exactly it manifests across groups. There is a urgent need for data and measurement of the experience of poverty for disabled and their whānau.
DPA recommendations:
- That the Child Poverty Reduction Bill include explicit reference to disabled children and their whānau.
- That the Bill enables development of data and measurement of child poverty data across a number of demographics.
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