5 Jun 2012

Child poverty accord unlikely - Labour

10:43 am on 5 June 2012

The Labour Party says the Greens stand little chance of getting the Government to agree to a cross-party accord on lifting children out of poverty.

The Green Party says unless there is cross-party consensus children will remain trapped in poverty.

Labour's children's spokesperson Jacinda Ardern says a cross-party agreement would be a long-term sustainable approach to reducing child poverty.

But she says the likelihood of getting the Government to agree to it is slim, as she says Labour has been calling for a similar approach for some time.

ACT leader John Banks says he would support a cross-party approach as long as it was constructive and not simply ideological.

However New Zealand First says political parties need to stop using the issue of child poverty as a way of gaining attention, and should instead be pressuring the Government into doing something about it.

Social policy spokesperson Asenati Taylor says an agreement is not necessary as all parties have accepted that there is child poverty.

"The time for talking has gone, and I think it's time to stop window-dressing things and start doing something about the issues.

"The problem at the moment is that they're too busy trying to redirect funds from one area to another just so that they can be seen to be doing something but they are actually not doing anything at all."