6. Child Poverty—International Publicity and Definition ofJACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the Minister for Social DevelopmentChild Poverty—International Publicity and Definition of6. JACINDA ARDERN (Labour) to the Minister for Social Development: What recent publicity does she think led to the Guardian writing an article titled New Zealand's most shameful secret: we have normalised child poverty"?Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister for Social Development): I have no responsibility for articles published in the Guardian a left-wing English newspaper that supports Jeremy Corbyn. To say that a third of New Zealand children can only dream of education and employment is sensationalist rubbish and I do not think that the measure used in the article is an accurate reflection of poverty in New Zealand at all. Using their definition the single biggest thing this Government could do to reduce poverty would be to lower the median wage which I suspect is what would happen if Labour-Greens got into power. This Government is absolutely committed to helping families on the lowest incomes and that is why Budget 2015 included a $790 million package of measures aimed at reducing hardship amongst children living in some of New Zealand's poorest families. This Government has increased childcare support for low-income families to help their parents be in work education or training. We have increased benefit rates for families with children by $25—the first time in more than 40 years. We have increased Working for Families for low-income working families and we have introduced free doctors visits and prescriptions for children under 13. We have extended paid parental leave we have extended parental tax credits and we fund 125000 breakfasts for schoolchildren every week—none of which I note were mentioned in the article in the Guardian.Jacinda Ardern: Does she accept that its definition of poverty which she just called "sensationalised" is the definition used by Unicef by the OECD and by the Conservative UK Government from which this article was published and written?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: We have had this discussion in the House on many many occasions. Measurements of poverty are complex and varied. You can measure them on income you can measure them on hardship and a variety of groups use either depending on which political point they are trying to make at the time. Jacinda Ardern: Will her new Ministry for Vulnerable Children be required to develop a plan to address child poverty in New Zealand?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: The member jumps the gun—there is no such ministry. Jacinda Ardern: Does she plan to introduce a Ministry for Vulnerable Children?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: The Government will make that decision in its own time. Jacinda Ardern: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance. We are currently debating at the select committee legislation that will be operationalised by the Ministry for Vulnerable Children. To not be able to ask a question about something the Minister has announced will be operating from April seems farcical. Mr SPEAKER: Order! The questions were never out of order. The questions were asked; the Minister then chose to answer them as she saw fit. Jacinda Ardern: Has the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) or the State Services Commission (SSC) actively recruited a new chief executive officer for her yet-to-be-named children's ministry who has experience working with significant issues like deprivation and poverty or at the very least experience working with children?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: I have to say in answer to the member I do not see any mention of any of that in the article in the Guardian. However the SSC has responsibility for employment issues and I have no responsibility for the process. Jacinda Ardern: If the claim that we have 305000 children living in poverty in New Zealand is sensationalised what is the accurate figure?Hon ANNE TOLLEY: As I said earlier we have had this discussion on many occasions. It depends. There are a number of ways of measuring. Whether you use income or whether you use hardship factors all of those involve judgmental decisions and it is complex. I refer to the member to the very excellent report that is published annually by MSD which Bryan Perry produces. It is all there comprehensively for the member's edification."