This conference addresses poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand. It analyses the economic, governmental, legal and institutional systems that have created poverty, and which continue to lock too many whānau in its grip.  It asks whether a developed nation should continue to tolerate poverty and inequality. It invites speakers who work at the front lines in the fight against poverty to tell us of the lasting and severe harms it inflicts on people’s lives. The programme will be ordered around the systems that have played, and continue to play, key roles in underpinning and maintaining the crisis of poverty: economic management, the housing, health, welfare and education systems, the courts and corrections, and short-term political thinking. The conference will also look at where hope lies, and how we can choose to re-design Aotearoa to eradicate poverty and heal those who suffer its harms.

Speakers from research backgrounds and the front lines will provide evidence, present joined-up thinking and examine where hope lies for eradicating poverty and assisting those who suffer its harms.

The conference will include sessions covering: The cost of poverty – Welfare and Inequality – State Violence and Legacies of Poverty – Housing and Homelessness – Health and (In)equality – The outcomes of Education – The Politics of Poverty – Lines of Hope.

Confirmed speakers include:

Murray Edridge, Maria English, Philippa Howden-Chapman, Judge Ida Malosi, Prof Lisa Marriot, Rebecca Macfie, Max Rashbrooke, Prof Tracey McIntosh, Prof Māmari Stephens, Ass Prof Anna Matheson, Dr Jin Russell, Craig Renney, Jennie Smeaton, Pat Hanley, Brooke Pao Stanley, Agnes Magele, Dr Huhana Hickey, Sue Bradford, Bill Rosenberg, Dr Kay Saville-Smith, James Te Puni, Miriana Stephens, Prof Nikki Turner, AProf Sarah-Jane Paine, Dr Avataeao Junior Ulu, Dr Hana O'Regan, Amanda Coulston, MPs Carmel Sepuloni, and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Kassie Hartendorp, and Bernard Hickey as Rapporteur.

Thursday 21 November 2024
5.00pm - Opening Lecture - JD Stout Fellow Rebecca Macfie

Friday 22 November -9.00am to 5.00pm

Saturday 23 November -9.00am to 5.00pm

Venue:  
Lecture Theatre 1
Rutherford House
Pipitea Campus
Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington

Workshop for Students

A workshop is being held from 3.00pm to 5.00pm on Thursday 21 November, faciliated by VUWSA.  It will be held on the Mezzanine Floor (RHMZ03), Rutherford House.  Places are limited.

Title of workshop: Action oriented discussion around student poverty applying a macro and micro lens. 
To register for the workshop

Hardship Fund

If you would like to come to the conference but are not able to pay any registration cost due to low or no income, please email Rebecca.macfie@vuw.ac.nz. Thanks to the support of donors we have a limited number of free registrations available.

The draft conference timetable is at the link below. Please click on the registration link and secure your place at the conference.

Conference Timetable

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