John MacDonald: This is a terrible thing to say, but it's true

Do you know why the Government has failed to meet all of its child poverty targets?  

The overarching reason I’m talking about here. Because this is really complex and there are all sorts of reasons why kids end-up living in poverty and why politicians, generally, fail to fix the problem.  

So the main reason why nothing seems to be achieved in this area. Why do you think that is?  

It’s because of us. Those of us who aren’t living in poverty and aren’t one of those invisible people who feature in these latest stats which show we’re going nowhere on this front.  

We’re the reason. Because, if we’re honest, we don’t really give a damn. Unless we're in that boat, we don’t really care as much as we might think we do.  

If we did, we’d be demanding to know at election time what politicians are going to actually do for the 156,000 Kiwi kids living in hardship. They’re the latest numbers. If we really cared, we’d be grilling politicians on how they’re going to get them out of hardship.  

But we don’t. Every piece of policy we look at it and want to know what’s in it for us.  

We listen to the Prime Minister’s state of the nation speech, and we don’t flinch when we realise that he hasn’t mentioned child poverty once.  

There was nothing in there about child poverty. There’s a lot of talk about fixing the economy —as there should be— but, as the Children's Commissioner is saying today, kids can’t wait while the Government tries to fix the economy and action is needed now.   

She’s right. But it won’t happen because we’re not demanding that it happens.  

Although, depending where people are on the political spectrum, some will be hearing this news today and some might be ripping into the government for not doing enough and others will be ripping into parents for not doing enough.  

One of the most depressing examples recently of how we don’t actually care about kids in poverty is the debate over the school lunches programme.  

Because, every time it comes up, there’s no shortage of people banging on about it being the responsibility of parents to make sure their kids are fed and why should us taxpayers pay for their kids to eat lunch?  

It’s depressing because what someone is saying when they say that, is it’s the kids fault that they’ve got no-hoper parents.  

In fact, that always seems to be the assumption, doesn’t it? A kid goes hungry because they've got hopeless parents.  

Just like a kid who goes to school without shoes has got hopeless parents.  

A kid who gets bronchitis every winter because they live in a freezing house. Bloody parents.  

And, as long as the majority of people think like that, nothing’s going to change.  

And, as long as the majority of people think like that, politicians know that they won’t be grilled by voters wanting to know how they’re going to get kids out of poverty and governments will know that they won’t be taken to task for not meeting child poverty reduction targets.  

Sure, the coalition is feeling a bit of heat about it today with headlines and the usual talking heads out there saying they can do and should so better. But, after today, the government —in fact, every politician— knows that most people will be back to focusing on themselves, getting on with their weekend and not giving a damn about those 156,000 kids that, apparently, are growing up in the best country in the world.  

And I’ll include myself as one of the guilty parties in all of this too. Well semi-guilty.   

You won't hear me saying that a cruddy school lunch programme is okay because it should be those no-hoper parents feeding those kids, not us taxpayers. You won't hear me saying that. Ever.  

But where I am guilty is that I’ve never asked a politician what they’re going to do for child poverty. I’m just as capable as the next person of turning a blind eye to all this.  

Because, you know, gotta get on with life. Can’t take on all the world’s problems. And maybe it’ll sort itself out.  

Thing is, though, child poverty won’t sort itself out. Criticising parents or punishing parents won’t sort it out. And politicians certainly won’t sort it out - because they know that, deep down, we don’t actually care whether they do or not.  

It’s a terrible thing to say. But that’s where I think the problem lies. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News TALKSB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Do you know why you might be seeking the answer?
I've got the answer for you. Do you know why
the government has failed to meet all of its child
all of its child poverty targets. The overarching reason I'm
talking about here because this is complex, isn't it really complex?
And there are all sorts of reasons why kids end

(00:33):
up living in poverty and why politicians generally they fail
to fix the problem. So it's the main reason why
nothing seems to have been achieved in this area. Why
do you think that is? It's because of us, those
of us who aren't living in poverty and those of

(00:54):
us who aren't one of those invisible people who feature
in these latest stats which show that we're going nowhere
on this front. We are the reason because if we're honest,
we don't really give a damn. I'm being really honest
about myself here. Unless we're in that boat. We don't

(01:19):
really care about kids and poverty as much as we
think we do, because if we did, we would be
demanding to know at election time what politicians are actually
going to do for the one hundred and fifty six
thousand KIW kids living in hardship. They're the latest numbers.
If we really cared, we would be grilling politicians on

(01:42):
how they're going to get them out of that hardship
that we don't. That we don't. Every piece of policy
we look at and we want to know on what's
in it for us and if we see nothing in
it for us, with nothing to see here, and we
listened to the Prime Minister's State of the Nation's speech
earlier this year and we don't even flinch when we

(02:04):
realize that he hasn't mentioned child poverty once. I've had
another look at it this morning, and there is nothing
in there about child poverty. A lot is talk about
fixing the economy, as there should be, but as the
Children's Commissioner are saying today, kids can't wait while the
government tries to fix the economy. The Children's Commissioner was

(02:26):
saying action is needed now, and she's dead right. But
it won't happen, mark my words. It won't happen because
we're not demanding it to happen. Although depending on where
people are on the political spectrum, they'll be hearing this
news today and some might be ripping into the government
for not doing enough, and others will be ripping into

(02:47):
parents for not doing enough. I mean, one of the
one of the most depressing examples recently of how we
don't actually how we don't actually care about kids in
poverty is the debate over the school lunch's program. It
was every time comes up, there is no shortage of

(03:08):
people banging on about it being the responsibility of parents
to make sure their kids are fed, and now why
should us taxpayers pay for their bloody kids to eat lunch?
It is depressing And I'll say this time and time again.
It's depressing because what someone is saying when they say
that is it's the kid's fault that they've got no

(03:29):
hope of parents, or it's the kid's fault that their
parents are below the breadline. You know a kid who
goes to school without shoes, hopeless parents. You know a
kid who gets bronchiatis every winter because they live in
a freezing house. Oh, it's a bloody parents. And as
long as the majority of people think like that, nothing's

(03:50):
going to change. And I suspect the majority of people
in New Zealand do think that way, and as long
as the majority of people think like that, the politicians know,
they know, they know they're not going to be grilled
by voters wanting to know how they going to get
kids out of poverty, and governments will know that they
won't be taken to task for not meeting child poverty

(04:13):
reluction targets. I'm sure sure the coalition's feeling a bit
of heat about this today with the headlines and you know,
the usual talking heads out there saying that they can
do and should do better. But after today, now, come
midnight tonight, the government and every other politician will know
that most people will be back to focusing on themselves.

(04:35):
I'll know that it's time tomorrow. People are beginning of
the weekend not giving a damn about those one hundred
and fifty six thousand kids that apparently are growing up
in the best country in the world. And as I said,
I'm including myself as one of the guilty parties and
all of this too, well semi guilty. Actually, you won't
hear me saying that a craddy school lunch program is okay,

(04:59):
because you know it's the no hoper. Parents who aren't
feeding the kids shall be the parents feeding them, not
us taxpayers won't. You won't hear me say that, ever.
But where I am guilty is that I have never
asked a politician what they're going to do for child poverty.
And I'm just as capable as the next person of
turning a blind eye to all of this, because you know,

(05:21):
got to get on with life. Can't take on all
the world's problems at once. And maybe maybe it'll sort
itself out. We'll comfort ourselves, maybe it'll sort itself out.
Thing is, child poverty won't sort itself out. Criticizing parents
or punishing parents won't sort child poverty out. And politicians

(05:43):
certainly won't sort out child poverty because they know that
deep down we don't actually care whether they do or not.
And it's a terrible thing to say, but that's where
I think the problem lies with us, all of us.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
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