The Government and the Opposition are attempting to work together to tackle child poverty, after the Prime Minister and National Party leader spoke in their first formal meeting about the Child Poverty Reduction Bill .
After a meeting yesterday with Jacinda Ardern about "anti-poverty legislation", Simon Bridges told media today, "we really wanted to make the case to the Prime Minister" for National's operating procedures on poverty.
"I'm hoping this is an issue that's bigger than politics that we can collaborate on," the National Party leader said.
He said National "think the Bill that [the PM] has, that is in parliament is OK, it doesn't really further things particularly, it's measuring the problem, it's looking at some targets, but all of that was already there, albeit not in legislation."
Ms Ardern promised in November last year to ask for National's support for the child poverty legislation, which was part of Labour's First 100 Days promises.
"We're saying to the Prime Minster, effectively, National want to collaborate with you," Mr Bridges said.
"But to do that you've got to do more, you've got to get under the hood, you've got to get deeper into this issue than just some economic measuring and look at real indicators of what's happening on the ground, in homes," he said.
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