Greens Make Kids A Priority Again!

-

Children have always been a major priority for the Green Party and it says something about the priorities of the current Government when child poverty, child neglect and family violence continue to be huge issues.

Today Metiria Turei announced the the last of our Party's three major election priorities and it focuses very heavily on an area that will make a huge difference to children and struggling families. By extending the 20 hours free early childhood education to two year olds it recognizes the financial pressures on families with young children.

An OECD study in 2010 revealed that New Zealand working families were having to spend 28% of their net income on childcare and this wasn't helped by the Government's $400 million cut to early childhood education. This gutting of the Early childhood budget reversed the attempt by Labour to bring the funding up to a similar level of other OECD countries: it drove up costs for families, forced many centres to close and made 100% registered and qualified teachers in centres unaffordable.

The Government also restricted choice for families when community based provision suffered the most from the cuts and many Pasifika communities that should have received the most support found themselves amongst the worst affected. What has also been concerning is the Government's support for corporate care and the subsidies provided for the likes of Kidicorp to set up in lower decile communities. Profit focused early childhood centres often maximize profits by saving costs on wages and manipulating the system for their own ends. This means commercial centres do not see having experienced and qualified staff as a priority.

Research shows that the benefits of early childhood education are dependent on the quality of the teachers and there is currently a minimum of 50% qualified staff and a cap of 80% for funding. There would be an outcry if hospitals were staffed in a similar way and yet the first years of a child's life are crucial for their future development. Skimping on the early years will actually have negative economic impacts in the future and the World Bank strongly supports investing in young children.

The Green Party will restore the goal of having 100% qualified staff in all centres and kindergartens and ensure the funding supports that. $297 million will be the initial cost and this will grow to $367 million over four years and will hopefully address the damage done by this Government and build a much stronger early childhood sector for the future. Every $1 we invest in early childhood education provides a $7 return, the investment is a no brainer. Our children and our families need and deserve this support and party voting Green will make it happen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The US is actually unique for not valuing life!

-
Image
"...that’s what sets America apart from every other country; we value life. That is what makes us unique.” - Sarah Sanders There is a high level of delusion operating in the White House. The stream of mistruths that come out of President Trump and Sarah Sanders' mouths are clearly blatant lies but millions of US citizens believe them. With daily diets of Fox News and living in a very insular culture , there is little that challenges these false perceptions of US "greatness".  When comparing the United States of America with most other developed nations it becomes clear that it probably places less value on life than most and doesn't compare well with many developing countries too: If the US really valued life then it would abolish the death penalty, it is the only Western Country that executes people under law ( 23 people were executed in 2018 ).  If the US really valued life then it would have an equitable and universal health care system. The cur
Read more

NZ, the Unethical Investor

-
Image
New Zealand is not wealthy in a global sense and our Government's investments would barely rate against many international corporates but our Crown Financial Institutions, like our $19 billion Superannuation Fund, do have a global impact. It is important that our money has a positive influence on the world and that we use reasonable diligence to ensure our investments are well vetted. Norway has a similar population to New Zealand yet it has taken a far more responsible approach to how it has invested its oil riches. Norway uses a Council of Ethics to closely evaluate its state pension fund investments against strict ethical guidelines. The guidelines are based on two premises. The first being that future generations will benefit from current oil wealth and that the return from invested funds are contingent on sustainable development in an economic, environmental and social sense. The second is a commitment that the fund should not allow a risk of investment that could contribu
Read more

ANZAC DAY REFLECTIONS

-
Image
I find ANZAC Day creates a dilemma for me, consequently I rarely attend dawn parades. I fully support people recognising the human cost of wars and remembering family members who lost their lives on battlefields. A grandfather of mine fought in WW1 and was gassed in the French trenches, which compromised his health for the rest of his life. His wife (my grandmother) lost her young brother in WW2. The sacrifices and human costs of war should never be minimalised. However, while speeches at ANZAC parades are full of statements promoting peace and the futility of war, those who campaign hardest for peace, promote nonviolence and call for weapons reductions are often treated like criminals. Anyone who dares to mention our own war crimes or that of our allies are generally shut down or demonised. It has become a sort of cultural heresy to question the reputation and glorification of the ANZACs.  I would love to see greater balance in how we talk about war and properly recognise those who ha
Read more