Ways to combat child poverty were discussed at a public forum at the University of Otago last night.
The forum was part of a New Zealand-wide consultation by the Children's Commissioner's expert advisory group. The group released a report in August on proposed solutions to child poverty.
A final report taking into account people's feedback would probably be handed to the Government in December.
The group's co-chairman, Prof Jonathan Boston, of Victoria University, told the audience of about 150 that child poverty was costing the country dearly and "we need to do something about it".
As of 2010, using the deprivation measure, child poverty stood at 18%, which was six times the level for people over the age of 65, at 3%. This was "at least partly" due to policy, Prof Boston said.
"We as a society have decided that older people should not be deprived ... [and] we have decided to tolerate relatively high levels of child poverty.
"We can choose differently," he said.
The group was suggesting significant changes to child support, family assistance, housing, health, education and employment policies, to reduce child poverty.
"Child poverty can be reduced ...
"various countries have embarked on strategies to reduce child poverty and they have achieved positive results," he said.
Fellow group member and dean of Otago University's law faculty Prof Mark Henaghan said the group was also pushing for a child poverty Act.
The Act would provide Government with a clear signal of where it needed to go and hold it accountable through measures prescribed in the Act.
It would also require the Government to set goals on reducing child poverty.
New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology director Dr Liz Craig spoke of the need to increase financial assistance for parents on low incomes - particularly those on benefits - so they were not forced to do without necessities such as healthcare and healthy food.
The importance of finding solutions to child poverty was shown in the rates of diseases, which were significantly higher for children from low-income families, she said.
