About

The TacklingPovertyNZ youth workshop saw 36 New Zealanders between the ages of 18 and 25 come together in Wellington to articulate a fresh perspective on the issue of poverty in New Zealand and how we might, as a country, go about tackling it. Participants spent most of their 72 hours in Wellington working hard at Treasury, in order to present their findings to MPs and other guests at the finale at Parliament. The discussions aimed to build a shared understanding of the complexities surrounding the current policy landscape, matching knowledge with public policy tools.

Participants grappled with several key questions:

• What does the term poverty mean in 2015?
• Do poverty traps exist? If yes, what do these obstacles look like and how do communities find ways to overcome them?
• What are the underlying trends that are likely to impact poverty in New Zealand in the next 25 years?
• Which policy tools have worked in the past and which have not?
• What knowledge and insights are missing from the discussion?

Participants

• Hon. Bill English
• Hon. Paul Goldsmith (Parliamentary Host)
• Dr Carwyn Jones
• Dame Diane Robertson
• David Rutherford
• Craig Smith
• Suzanne Snively
• Chris Theobald
• Gina Lefaoseu
• Dr Eric Crampton
• Geoff Lewis
• Dr Ganesh Nana
• Max Rashbrooke
• Awerangi Tamihere

TacklingPovertyNZ: Speaker’s presentations
7-9 December, New Zealand Treasury

TacklingPovertyNZ: Finale Presentation
9 December 2015, Parliament