Left Further Behind - Child Poverty Action Group

under the Māori Health Strategy suggests that Whānau Ora, in its application to social services,
is likely to provide real and substantive Māori decision-making and engagement in social policy
making as well as Māori design and implementation of social initiatives within communities (Ministry
of Health, 2002 , p.iii). However, as suggested by the experiences in health and in existing familycentred
programmes, it may take at least a few years for such changes to result in measurable
lessening in the inequities that create poverty within Māori whānau and communities.
Given the high likelihood that the Whānau Ora approach will struggle to make an impact on the
implementation of the social security system, and the considerable time needed for increased Māori
decision-making and engagement in social policy to result in measurable change in poverty rates for
whānau Māori, poverty, for many Māori children, will remain the daily reality in the short to medium
term.
Māori and Poverty
There is no need to replicate the enormous amount of data which show clearly the economically
disadvantaged position of Māori. In fact, the Whānau Ora Taskforce Report (Whānau Ora Taskforce,
2010, p. 15) summarises this:
Despite limitations, current data suggest that whānau members face a disproportionate level of
risk for adverse outcomes, as seen in lower standards of health, poorer educational outcomes,
marginalisation within society, intergenerational unemployment and increased rates of offending.
Further, in response to socio-economic hardship, a range of problems are likely to co-exist
within the same household, affecting health, employment, behaviour, education, and lifestyle
simultaneously. In addition to socio-economic determinants, some studies have shown that even
when social and economic circumstances are taken into account, Māori individuals still fare worse
than non-Māori.
Table 4.1 shows the extent of income inequality for Māori in relation to other ethnic groups: Between
1988 and 2008 median income for Māori increased by $3,300 while for the population as a whole it
increased by $4,400.
Table 4.1. Real equivalised median household income (BHC) by ethnicity 1988 to 2008
($2008) (Source: Perry, 2009a: Table D.5)
1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2008
Euro/Pakeha 25,100 25,000 22,500 22,100 23,000 25,100 25,600 28,800 29,500 31,000
NZ Māori 20,800 18,800 15,300 15,400 18,400 19,400 20,800 21,500 21,000 24,100
Pacific 20,400 17,900 16,200 14,500 15,900 17,700 17,100 19,600 23,000 22,300
Other 22,600 21,700 21,400 16,100 18,500 15,900 24,900 20,900 26,300 25,400
All 23,900 23,400 21,100 20,400 21,600 23,500 00 24,100 25,900 27,400 28,300
The disadvantaged position of Māori in relation to overall income inequality is reflected too in the
hardship data in the early (as yet preliminary) data from the 2008 Report on Living Standards. Here
too, the position of Māori is significantly worse than the population overall as demonstrated in Figure
4.1 below. The scale moves from ‘severe hardship’ on the left to a ‘very good’ standard of living on
the right-hand side.
The 2008 Living Standards preliminary research also notes that Māori and Pacific households have
a hardship rate two to three times higher than other ethnic groups. As recent Ministry of Social
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