Prime Minister John Key says the Government will spend more money fighting child poverty.
A Government paper obtained by Radio New Zealand last week says the Government should re-prioritise family assistance funding instead of spending more on child poverty.
However, Key this morning told Radio New Zealand the Government would increase that spending, and work was under way on defining the neediest children and how to help them.
“I think we'll certainly have a group of youngsters that we will say: this is the group that we believe are living in unacceptable levels of material depravation.”
Key said he hears anecdotally that about 15 per cent of children in the lowest-decile schools are still in need of breakfast at school.
But he said the Government would not provide lunch at school, something he said the vast bulk of parents were already doing well.
