There’s that old line, isn’t there, about it taking a village to raise a child.

If I think about the literal meaning of that - I think about the mini communities or villages we have in our lives. School communities. Sports communities.

The types of things that, generally through our kids, we meet and spend time with other people pretty much in the same boat.

So, if you think about a school community, there are parents helping eachother out all the time. Giving other people's kids a lift so they can get to certain activities.

In the sports communities, some people are more than willing to put their hand up to help other people's kids follow their passions and build on any talents they might have.

But I think the “village” concept is a bit more broad than that. I think of the “village” being every one of us throughout the city, throughout the region, and throughout the country. We’re a village of about 5-million people.

And when you look at it that way, I think a lot of people in the village aren’t doing their bit for our kids.

And I am just as guilty as the next person. Because yesterday, when these latest child poverty stats came out - the ones that show that, in the year to June 2022, there was no change in the number of kids living in poverty.

It was one-in-10 last year. And one-in-10 the year before. And pretty much everyone I heard commenting on this yesterday said the same thing. That, now we’re in a cost-of-living crisis, the numbers will be worse. They won’t be the same. They’ll be worse.

It’s just that with official stats like these - they take time to gather and analyse, and so we’re always looking at how things were, not necessarily how they are.

But, as I say, the general consensus on child poverty is that the situation will be even worse now than these latest stats tell us.

The thing is, is that when I heard all this stuff yesterday - I’ll put my hand up and admit it, when I heard it, I wasn’t outraged.

I know I should’ve been. Because I’m part of that village, remember, that it takes to raise a child. And I don’t know whether it’s because child poverty is something we’ve heard about for so long now, that we just think ‘that’s a shame’ and move on.

Is it because, thankfully, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve considered myself to be living in poverty and so if it doesn’t affect me then it’s just another story in the news? Is that why?

Is it because I have some sort of unconscious bias that makes me think someone living in poverty only has themselves to blame? As far as I’m aware, I don’t think that way. But who knows?

Have I become so conditioned to the fact that kids in New Zealand do sleep in cars and motels, and do go to school hungry - have I become so used to that, that whenever I hear about it I just thank my lucky stars that that’s not my life and move on to the next thing?

Why, for example, is it only Christmas time when I think about giving stuff to the foodbank? Because it makes me feel good during “the happiest time of the year”? But then, at the same time, I’m happy to shell out money and go to a concert to raise money for the areas recovering from Cyclone Gabrielle? You see? It doesn’t make sense, does it? I don’t make sense.

And we’ve got politicians banging on about reading, writing and maths and how our education system’s no longer in the top 10 in the world and how outrageous that is. And so we’re going to have bootcamps at school and ‘you will do one hour of maths, one hour of reading and one hour of writing every day’. Yes sir!

But where’s the outrage about the fact that one-in-10 of these kids - probably more - where’s the outrage that they are living in poverty? I’m not hearing it. And what does National think one-hour of maths, reading and writing every day is going to do for these kids? When they don't even know where the next meal is coming from.

Yes, I know the Government has had its serious face on when it comes to child poverty - and even has a Child Poverty Reduction Minister. I think, on the basis of the stats that came out yesterday, the Prime Minister needed to take out the “reduction” part of that job title and put it on the bonfire.

Because I think it’s well and truly time to admit that this so-called “village” is failing big time when it comes to our collective contribution, and doing our bit for all children in this country.