New Zealand is backsliding on much of its social progress, as food and housing become increasingly difficult to afford, says the Salvation Army.
【澳纽网编译】救世军表示，随着食物和住房越来越难以负担，新西兰的大部分社会进步正在倒退。

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The charity’s latest State of the Nation report highlights a cost of living crisis forcing families onto the benefit in record numbers.
该慈善机构最新的国家状况报告强调了生活成本危机迫使家庭以创纪录的数量获得福利。

“It’s increasingly difficult for people to achieve those basics, to achieve food security, have enough kai to feed the family sustainably, to have an affordable house… Those things have got tougher in the last year,” the charity’s social policy director, Bonnie Robinson, said.
“人们越来越难以实现这些基本生活，实现粮食安全，有足够的生活必需品来可持续地养活家庭，拥有负担得起的房子……这些事情在去年变得更加艰难，”该慈善机构的社会政策主任邦妮·罗宾逊 （Bonnie Robinson） 说。

“Food insecurity has gone up in the last year, for about a quarter of all households they’re going without food ‘sometimes’ or ‘often.’ For Pasifika families that’s even worse, at about half of Pasifika families reporting they go without food regularly.”
“去年粮食不安全状况有所增加，大约四分之一的家庭’有时’或’经常’没有食物。”对于太平洋岛民家庭来说，情况更糟，大约一半的太平洋岛民家庭报告说他们经常没有食物。

It was harder than ever for the Salvation Army to respond to those needs, she said.
她说，救世军比以往任何时候都更难满足这些需求。

“Government funding has been reduced and people are finding it more difficult to contribute to charitable organisations,” Robinson said.
“政府资金已经减少，人们发现向慈善组织捐款变得更加困难，”罗宾逊说。

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An increasing number of New Zealanders were turning to the benefit, with more than 400,000 people reporting a need for welfare support in December last year.
越来越多的新西兰人开始寻求福利，去年 12 月有超过 400,000 人报告需要福利支持。

That is a higher number than the previous peak in 1998, though adjusted for the current population remains lower at 12 percent compared to 16 percent of the working population in 1998.
这个数字比 1998 年的上一个峰值要高，尽管调整后的当前劳动人口仍低于 12%，而 1998 年为劳动人口的 16%。

“It is the highest we’ve had for a very long time, and we know that with basic benefits it’s very hard to meet your essential needs,” Robinson said.
“这是我们很长一段时间以来的最高水平，我们知道，即使有基本福利，也很难满足你的基本需求，”罗宾逊说。

“When we’ve got more people needing welfare support because they’ve lost their jobs and the job market is very tight, that places more families and more children at risk of living in material hardship.”
“当我们有更多的人因为失业而需要福利支持，而就业市场非常紧张时，这会使更多的家庭和更多的儿童面临生活在物质困难中的风险。”

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The report also found that violence against children had risen, with the number of children hospitalised from assault and neglect at its highest since 2014.
报告还发现，针对儿童的暴力行为有所增加，因袭击和忽视而住院的儿童人数达到了 2014 年以来的最高水平。

“There’s never an excuse for violence against children but we do know what some of the drivers are,” she said.
“针对儿童的暴力行为从来没有借口，但我们确实知道一些驱动因素是什么，”她说。

“For people whose lives are extremely stressful due to deprivation, due to their own previous trauma, alcohol and drug abuse… These can be drivers of harm to children, so we certainly have to do much better.”
“对于那些因贫困、自身以前的创伤、酗酒和吸毒而生活极度紧张的人来说……这些可能是对儿童造成伤害的驱动因素，因此我们当然必须做得更好。

It also found that 32 percent of New Zealanders had been victims of crime.
它还发现，32% 的新西兰人曾是犯罪的受害者。

“It is a big percentage but there is some good news in our crime statistics… Violent crime has been increasing but youth crime has actually been decreasing in the past decade,” Robinson said.
“这是一个很大的百分比，但我们的犯罪统计数据中有一些好消息……暴力犯罪一直在增加，但在过去十年中，青少年犯罪实际上一直在下降，”罗宾逊说。

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“We need to look at how we support people to step away from crime and to deal with the things that drive people into crime and our recidivism rate.”
“我们需要研究如何支持人们远离犯罪，并处理驱使人们犯罪的事情和我们的累犯率。”

Rent was another stress factor, becoming increasingly unaffordable compared to wages.
房租是另一个压力因素，与工资相比，房租变得越来越难以承受。

“In four in every 10 communities rental prices are pretty unaffordable, that means they’re over 30 percent of the median income… If you’re paying that much rent you don’t have the money to provide all the other things you need to,” Robinson explained.
“每 10 个社区中就有 4 个社区的租金价格非常难以承受，这意味着它们超过收入中位数的 30%……如果你支付那么多租金，你就没有钱提供你需要的所有其他东西，”罗宾逊解释说。

“We’re not seeing private rental prices coming down, and that is a major cause of hardship and poverty.”
“我们没有看到私人租赁价格下降，这是造成困难和贫困的主要原因。”

Robinson said it was vital that the government prioritise New Zealanders’ basic needs.
罗宾逊说，政府优先考虑新西兰人的基本需求至关重要。

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Lieutenant Ian Hutson told Morning Report the mostly negative statistics and outcomes from the report were more than disappointing.
伊恩·赫特森 （Ian Hutson） 中尉告诉晨报，该报告的大部分负面统计数据和结果非常令人失望。

“What we are concerned about is that we as a nation and people need to really make sure that we all have the basic needs of life.
“我们担心的是，我们作为一个国家和人民需要真正确保我们都有生活的基本需求。

“When you see these statistics, you realise that we must do something to turn some of them around.”
“当你看到这些统计数据时，你会意识到我们必须做点什么来扭转其中一些情况。”

Hutson said he believed one of the most concerning findings was the “significant increase” in children going without food.
赫特森说，他认为最令人担忧的发现之一是儿童没有食物的“显着增加”。

“One in four children reported going without food sometimes or often – and for Pacifica it’s one in two.”
“四分之一的儿童报告说有时或经常不吃东西——而对于太平洋岛民，这一比例是二分之一。”

Hutson said the use of foodbanks had also decline and believed it was partly because of the lack of funding.
赫特森说，食品银行的使用也有所下降，并认为这部分是由于缺乏资金。

“There’s not the same resources to meet the needs that come to our doors.”
“没有相同的资源来满足我们上门的需求。”

He said he was concerned about what was happening around benefits and housing.
他说，他对福利和住房方面发生的事情感到担忧。

“[Families] are very often on inadequate levels of income and they have to pay the rent or whatever, and at the same time that is happening – if you look at the report in the housing section – rental affordability, particularly in the low income areas, is becoming less affordable and the price of rent has gone up more than the income has.
“[家庭] 的收入水平往往不足，他们必须支付房租或其他费用，与此同时——如果你看一下住房部分的报告——租金负担能力，特别是在低收入地区，变得越来越难以负担，租金价格上涨得超过收入。

“We need to build more state houses… but it looks like the government is not going to invest in housing to the same extent [as last year],” he said
“我们需要建造更多的政府住房……但看起来政府不会像去年那样投资住房，”他说

来源：RNZ

分类： 澳纽资讯

(即时多来源) 新西兰英语新闻 New Zealand English News

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