National votes for hungry kids in sick homes

Over the past few years we've had a growing awareness of the problem of child poverty and kids turning up to school hungry. The media - and Campbell Live in particular - have exposed the extent of the problem and what it means for the education and life chances of those kids. And throughout all this, National has steadfastly stuck its fingers in its ears, going "la la la, not listening, not my problem". Sure, they've taken some PR measures based on grace and favour, but they think the problem is one of poor parenting, not poverty, which will be "solved" by ignoring it. They see absolutely no role for the state to step in to ensure these kids get a fair start in life.

And yesterday, they did it again, voting down not one, but two member's bills aimed at feeding the kids. A pack of entitled wankers, each of them receiving $150,000 a year or more, who have probably never gone hungry a day in their life, voted for kids to starve.

But that's not all. They also voted down a bill to ensure that all rental homes were warm and healthy, so that those kids didn't go to school sick. This would have significantly reduced health costs and improved the quality of life of people in rental housing. But it would have been bad for landlords, so National voted it down.

At this stage we should remember that, like most of the 1%, National MPs own a disproportionate number of rental homes, with some of them being veritable slumlords. So, they were basicly voting to protect their own pocket from the costs of being a decent landlord. Some might call that "corrupt"...

This is what National stands for now: hungry kids in sick homes. The poor kneecapped from the start while their kids get sent to private schools. New Zealand is meant to be better than this. But it won't be as long as we have a National government.