Left Further Behind - Child Poverty Action Group

Pacific families in New Zealand
Low household incomes and the marked inequality between Pacific incomes and other New
Zealanders shape health, educational and social outcomes for our families. Pacific median household
income is lower than non-Pacific people (Ministry of Social Development, 2007, 2010b). However the
additional financial commitments of Church, and remittances to extended family back home in the
Islands, result in Pacific families having even less money available for themselves (Tumama Cowley,
Paterson, & Williams, 2004). Essentials such as healthcare for children may take second place to the
other priorities of rent and cultural commitments. Pefi Kingi (2008) writes of Pacific families:
..the family is the cornerstone of personal life from birth to death, and identity can centre on one’s
roles, duties and responsibilities within the family… it maybe that collective well-being is awarded
a higher priority than that of the individual, particularly if that individual is a sick child. (Craig,
Taufa, Jackson, & Han, 2008, p. 12)
Unemployment affects not only income and social status but also physical and mental health and
community participation. Pacific unemployment continues to be higher than for other New Zealanders,
and as Figure 5.1. shows,
Figure 5.1. Quarterly Unemployment Rates by Total Response Ethnicity
the trend is worsening with
Quarter 4 (December) 2007 to Quarter 3 (September) 2010 (Source: The
the recent global financial
Children’s Social Health Monitor, 2011)
downturn such that the Pacific
unemployment rate was
almost 14% in 2010 (Helu, et
al., 2009), and reached 15.5%
by June 2011 (Department of
Labour, 2011a).
Poverty, particularly when
it is an entrenched part of
childhood, is associated with
poor health, education, and
economic outcomes. Such
outcomes cast a long shadow
extending into adult life (Aber
& Bennett, 1997).
A Ministry of Health report (2008) shows that 40% of Pacific children are growing up in poverty. Benefit
cuts, increased housing costs and high unemployment rates have contributed to this continuing
poverty since 1990 (see Figure 5.2).
The Ministry of Social Development’s Living Standards report documents Pacific families with
dependent children as being more likely to be living in hardship than other ethnic groups (Ministry
of Health, 2008). The proportion of Pacific children living in severe hardship at 30% almost doubled
between 2000 and 2004 (see Figure 5.3). With another 31% living in ‘significant’ or ‘some’ hardship,
New Zealand had over 60% of Pacific families living in hardship by 2006 (Ministry of Health, 2008).
Hardship measures include children having to share a bed, not being able to afford to go to the
doctor, being unable to afford shoes and wet-weather clothing, and not going on school outings
because of cost.
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