We are in New Zealand a proud partner with UNICEF in the
Pacific, and I know that not just from reports that I have
read but from what I have seen myself.
We are incredibly lucky to come from a country where children
can be children. We are free from war
and the devastation that comes from long-term political
instability. We have a beautiful environment,
universal healthcare, and a world-class education system
that encourages play.
But we are not perfect.
That is why when I came into office, somewhat surprisingly,
I did so with a single-minded determination to improve
the lives of children in New Zealand.
We have had rates of growth in New Zealand
that international commentators have remarked upon, commended.
And yet at the same time
we have had some of the worst homelessness in the OECD.
I do not consider that success.
That's why we are working to change what success means.
We have, for instance, created a tool called
The Living Standards Framework. cIt puts the notion of
The Living Standards Framework. It puts the notion of
sustainable intergeneration well-being at the centre
of the different decision-making processes we have:
policy advice, government expenditure,
and the long-term management of our assets.
Statistics New Zealand are developing an ambitious project
called the Indicators Aotearoa New Zealand.
It creates a comprehensive set of indicators across
the current and future well- being of New Zealand
as it looks at economic, cultural, social,
and environmental measures. Now taken together
that is how we will measure the success and implimentation
of the STGs.
We might only be 4.5 million people, but we were the
first country in the world to give women the right to vote
125 years ago. [Applause]
But all of these milestones come out of a sense of fairness,
But aequality, care. We hatecome out of a injustice.airness,
equality, care. We hate injustice.
We don't especially believe in notions of status, and we think
everyone deserves decent opportunities.
And that starts with kids.
We recently went out and surveyed children around
what they wanted if we were to establish a strategy
as a government.
And their response was really stark for me.
The didn't list all the technological devices that
they want, they didn't say skateparks.
They raised things like poverty.
They raised wanting to spend more time with their parents
and their family.
They raised issues around poverty for other children.
They looked beyond themselves. And that's what we should do
as leaders and as a government too.
Currently in New Zealand parliament is considering
a piece of law that, when passed, will require us to
set targets to reduce child poverty, and report
every single budget on how we have done.
We're hoping to at least halve child poverty in New Zealand
within the next 10 years.
We've changed our welfare and tax system so that
so that lower-middle income earners will be at least
$75 a week better off, and thousands of children will
be lifted out of poverty.
We've extended paid parental leave from 18 weeks
to 26 weeks to allow kids time to bond with their families.
We've set a goal that everyone should have a warm, dry,
affordable home, and kicked off a major house-building program
called KiwiBuild to help make that a reality,
alongside minimum standards for rentals so that children
don't get sick or die from respiratory illness.
We've made it free for any child under 14
to see the doctor.
But despite all this we know there is much much more to do.
Today - this very day - marks one year ago that the election
was held in New Zealand.
That election ultimately brought me and my government into office
and I want to use this 1 year anniversary to recommit myself
and my government to becoming the best place in the world
to be a child.