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The prime minister didn’t even get a chance to get up from her seat in the theater.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been questioned about poverty in an unplanned question time by a member of the Porirua youth group.
Ardern made a quiet entrance to the launch of the 2020 Child Poverty Monitor report at the Beehive Theatrette, seated in the back, before her planned speech (no questions asked) to adults, high school kids, and members of the group from young boys.
Several dozen young people were there to ask questions at an onstage panel, which included the Minister for Children, Kelvin Davis. But Lewis Ariu-Woolley of the youth group The Voyagers from Porirua had other ideas.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Surprise! Lewis Ariu-Woolley, a member of the Porirua youth group, throws a cheeky question to the Prime Minister at the Beehive. In the foreground is Judge Andrew Becroft, Children’s Commissioner.
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When it came time to ask his question to the panel, he noticed that the prime minister was in the room and instead turned and hurled a cheeky question at him.
“My name is Lewis, I’m from Porirua,” he began. “I have a two-part question … and I really wish Jacinda could get involved in this question.” Without offending the panel, he said.
The city had high youth numbers and red-hot housing prices, he said. Moving was almost impossible for young people, creating poverty and pressure in the homes.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Prime Minister and Minister for Child Poverty Reduction Jacinda Ardern rises from her seat at the Beehive Theatrette to answer an unexpected question from Lewis Ariu-Woolley.
“Is there a plan to remedy this?”
The Child Poverty Monitor report said that one in five children under the age of 18 in New Zealand lived in low-income households.
It revealed that 150,000 children experience “material difficulties” in New Zealand.
It is published annually by the Office of the Commissioner for Children, the philanthropic organization JR McKenzie Trust, and the New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern takes the stage to speak to the audience.
The Prime Minister said she planned to “sneak around the back and listen a bit” to get context for the conversation in the room. “Good for you for seeing me in the back,” he said.
His answer referred to how income, housing supply and adapting demand to people who want to live in houses, not speculate on them, were the solution.
Afterward, Ariu-Woolley said he felt privileged when she agreed to answer his question. “To be honest, I was very surprised.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Ihaia Waenga from St Bernard’s College, Lower Hutt asks a question for the panel at the launch of the Child Poverty Monitor report for 2020.
“When we were developing our questions to get to this, we heard that she was going to be here, and I said ‘no. I’m going to write this question and I want to hear what Jacinda Ardern says. ‘
Ariu-Woolley said “I was convinced I was going to hear an answer.” He is of British origin, Cook Islands and Tokelau, he said.
In the new report, about 235,400 children lived in low-income households, about one in five (20.8%) people under the age of 18. These were households earning less than 50% of median family income after housing costs.
This was higher than the 2019 report, which had about 17 percent living in this category.
Speaking to the media before the launch, Ardern said the report showed that prior to Covid-19 the government was “generally” on the right track and making progress on its child poverty targets.
She said that in response to Covid-19, the government had moved immediately to support people with the lowest incomes and with jobs. “But we must make sure we protect the vulnerable in this environment.”
