Solving Poverty in New Zealand

Now I need to get something off my chest, there is no Third World poverty in New Zealand. Any "Third World" Poverty is down to the acts of parents and families in choosing a by and large drug and alcohol filled life.  Poverty plainly is a misnomer based on the likes of WINZ and CYFS activity to prevent said poverty.  The ones that suffer mostly are children in families that make poor choices.

However there is mid level poverty and there are several ways to take it by the horn and turn the current situation around through positive initiatives.  Here are a few:

1      Any family on the bottom line of income, i.e WINZ Benefit, should have a GST Free Card for food shopping, car expenses including fuel, and bills.

2.  Proposed Water Exports should be U Turned and flood food outlets with fresh spring water(for free with GST Free Card) Sugar Tax should give Water Sales a boost.

3.  Meat and Dairy prices need to be dropped across the board.  Government watchdogs should be monitoring overseas markets and ensure the Meat and Dairy industry prices on the local market are cheaper than Kiwi products elsewhere.

4.  Cheap Clothing and Bedding for at risk families.  There is a huge Rough Spun Wool glut in this country (big downturn in carpet market.) and how hard would it be to refine that wool into a fiber for the production of blankets, Sleeping Bags and warm clothing.  With the lack of buyers for carpet wool, a revived industry of wool products would be cheap to set up and kick-start the textile industry.  With cheap wool price for this endeavour, the farmers win, the clothing and manufacturing wins and poor Kiwi's win.  And any extra items can be stockpiled and used to assist countries suffering from natural disasters.

I know this might be a little Out There!! But change doesn't start without a dream.