Brash: "Labour has done nothing to close the gap in incomes in New Zealand and those in Australia, nothing to stem the flow of people heading overseas, and nothing to help bring them back. New Zealand needs a tax system that provides incentives for hard work and enterprise..."

Source — New Zealand Herald 12 March 2005 "Quarter of NZ's brightest are gone" by Simon Collins; The Daily News 14 March 2005 "Tax relief solution to brain drain" by NZPA

The government is also investigating creative ways to encourage families here — particularly grandparents — to attract their children back to New Zealand to live. Research indicates that apart from All Black rugby wins, little domestic information filters through to New Zealanders overseas. Swain: "There's a lot of Kiwis who have been away for maybe longer than five years who do not know exactly what has happened here. The fact that we have got an economy booming, the fact that we have skill shortages, the fact that we need them home."

Source — NZ Herald 7 March 2005 "Come home, Government urges Kiwis abroad" by Ruth Berry.

According to Unicef, the proportion of children living in poverty in New Zealand rose during the 1990s, from about 5.5% in 1990 to about 14% to March 2005. This increase in child poverty is a reflection of the 1991 benefit cuts and the freeze in family support rates from 1998 until April 2005. New Zealand was one of seven countries that cut its welfare spending during the 1990s as a proportion of the national income, from 21.9% in 1990 to 19.2% in 2000.

Denmark and Finland have child poverty rates of less than 3%, and Norway is the only OECD country for which Unicef describes child poverty levels as "very low and continuing to fall". In contrast, the United States and Mexico have child poverty rates of more than 20%.

UNICEF's Senior Advisor on Global Policy, Gaspar Fajth says it is very clear that government expenditure and intervention is like a safety belt for children. This has been accepted knowledge in the case of poor countries, but this report finds this to be the case in rich countries as well. Fajth: "The core message of this report is that no country, not even the richest countries of the world, can reduce child poverty consistently and significantly without paying attention to the political process. No country, not even the richest countries, can reduce child poverty unless they define very clearly what they mean by child poverty. No country, not even the richest countries can achieve a considerable reduction to child poverty if they don't give priority to children."

Figure 1 The Child Poverty League The bars show the percentage of children living in ‘relative’ poverty, defined as households with income below 50 per cent of the national median income.

Figure 2 Changes in child poverty rates during the 1990s The bars show the rise or fall in child poverty rates in each country during the 1990s.

CPAG spokesperson Mike O"Brien: "In fact, current policy deliberately leaves the poorest, most marginalised children excluded from vital government aid aimed at low income children. The much heralded Working for Families package doesn't go nearly far enough. We cannot afford to allow children's wellbeing to depend on whether or not parents are in work. Children whose parents are not in work live in even worse circumstances; we need to be more generous with them, rather than less."

Child Poverty Action Group health spokesperson Dr Nikki Turner: "Our aging society can't afford to lose sight of any of its precious children. Yet despite the economic boom, many of my patients still can't regularly afford nutritious food for their children. CPAG calls on New Zealanders to ask politicians in this critical election year to make child poverty reduction a key priority, given that it is in their power to do it. An action plan, with specific targets and timelines and substantial resources committed, is urgently needed to give all our children an equal, fair start in life."

Source — Press release: Unicef 2 March 2005 "Unicef: Child Poverty On Rise In Wealthy Nations"; NZPA 2 March 2005 "Grim poverty report out of date - Maharey"; Press release Green Party 2 March 2005 "Child poverty is not going away"; Press release: Child Poverty Action Group 2 March 2005 "Child Poverty Figures Remain Needlessly High"; NZ Herald 2 March 2005 "NZ's child poverty rate one of highest" by Simon Collins.

Child Poverty in Rich Countries 2005, — a Unicef Report Card by UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Florence (Unicef, March 2005) can be downloaded (PDF 40pg, 218kb) from here

Director of the Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, Major Campbell Roberts, says that the decline in the rate of homeownership in recent years has significant social and economic implications. Major Roberts: "The benefits of home ownership are financial and social, encouraging social stability, savings, and asset accumulation. Promoting and assisting people into homeownership used to be an important part of government housing policy. It needs to become so again..."

The Land Lease scheme would enable key workers to live in or near the communities in which they work. In this scheme, the government earmarks land (in Hobsonville, Whenuapai, or Papakura, for example) to be used for housing key workers. The households pay for the cost of the house, and the government provides a favourable long-term lease on the land. This makes quality homeownership attainable and sustainable for these key workers and their families.

From Housing to Homes — strategies to assist low and middle income New Zealand households into home ownership by the Salvation Army (Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, February 2005) can be downloaded (PDF 45pg, 560kb) from here.

Source — Salvation Army "From Housing to Homes" report; NZ Herald 6 March 2005 "End of the free market for mortgages" by Simon Collins.

Staff say that workloads and overtime have increased due to the "double-bunking" of inmates — necessary because inmate numbers have increased faster than new prisons facilities can be made ready. Department of Corrections staff also say the shift to qualifications-based salary structure means they must complete unit standard-based qualifications in order to get promotions or pay rises. Staff maintain that with all the over-time required by the crowded prisons, they are having to trade away their career development for their inmate management duties.

Public Service Association national secretary Richard Wagstaff says the Department of Corrections needs to recruit 1,800 new staff in the next three years, while the survey of prison staff reveals its members are demoralised by the family-unfriendly hours of work. Wagstaff: "They feel undervalued and unsafe with most looking for alternative employment."

LIFE ON THE INSIDE — the working life of NZ prison staff by the Public Service Association (PSA, March 2005) can be downloaded (pdf 16pg, 660kb) from here.

Source — Press release Public Service Association 4 March 2005 "Survey: One in three prison staff trying to leave"; the PSA publication "Life on the Inside".

The main reason for the blue-collar job shortages is the ageing of America. Because the baby boomers are retiring, huge worker shortages are already developing in areas such as construction, healthcare, auto repair, and all of the skilled trades such as electricians.

Electricians are seeing such a worker crisis that unions are offering fully paid apprenticeships to learn the trade. Community colleges involved in trade training report that they cannot keep enough students on their courses to keep employers satisfied. And websites are emerging (see www.bluecollarandproudofit.com) to persuade high school students not to go to college, but consider a blue collar job instead.