Since the 1980s, New Zealand’s welfare state has undergone massive restructuring with the adoption of a neoliberal approach to economic management. This restructuring involved a removal of universal benefits, including the universal child benefit, which were replaced with targeted welfare and emphasis on incentives to work.
The Working for Families Package introduced in 2003 is a reflection of this emphasis. It was the first acknowledgment of the high rate of child poverty by a New Zealand government. This acknowledgment is positive as it indicates that children are entering into the policy agenda but the framing of the issue and the policy solutions developed demonstrate a continuation of the ideology of work being the way out of poverty.