The Budget 2026 Child Poverty Report w/ the University of Auckland's Honorary Associate Professor Susan St John: 3rd June, 2026

Under the Public Finance Act, the government is required to release a report on child poverty as part of the budget process.

The report for 2026, released last week, shows that New Zealand is far from on-track to meet its goal of reducing child poverty to 6% by 2028. One of the key measures of this - material hardship - was not even able to be estimated by the Treasury, but was calculated to be sitting at 14.3% in the financial year 2024/25.

With community providers, such as foodbanks, reporting increased hardship in the community, it seems highly unlikely that the government will meet previous targets for reductions in child poverty.

So, to speak on the government’s approach so far, and what the recent Child Poverty report tells us, Producer Theo was joined by Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Susan St John.