The upcoming announcement of the Child Poverty Reduction Bill is aimed to "last beyond" the current government, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
However Opposition leader Bill English is critical of Ms Ardern's attempt to draw cross-party participation on the bill.
Ms Ardern, who is the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction, will be announcing the hotly awaited details today at 4.30pm.
The targets and measures are part of the government's 100-day-plan, with the purpose of the move to "create a commitment to ending the argument around what child poverty looks like in New Zealand", Ms Ardern said today.
It will require governments to set targets to reduce child poverty.
She said there would be multiple measures as "that's an acknowledgment of how you get the best picture of what's happening for families in new Zealand who are living on low incomes".
Ms Ardern wanted cross-party participation on the Bill and sent Mr English a brief and one page summary on December 13.
She said she would "absolutely love to hear" any feedback from the Opposition.
"I'm genuinely seeking input because I want this to last beyond us," she said.
She said it included details of the measures, how child poverty would be reported on by the government and the use of a child well-being strategy.
"I gave him quite a bit of detail," Ms Ardern said.
National’s leader says the Prime Minister’s letter did not count as a consultation.
Mr English said today Ms Ardern's letter did not count as a consultation.
"I don"t think it was an adequate opportunity at all, this is a significant long term issue. I don't think they were ever seriously intending… that there would be a serious bipartisan effort."
"We haven't had the opportunity to influence it. Our main concern is with the fact the government has abolishing the targets that we set dealing with the other half of the poverty equation", he said, such as factors that lock children into long term poverty.
The National leader has anticipated the Government’s child poverty legislation will ignore social causes.
On TVNZ1's Breakfast today, Mr English dismissed the bill as focusing exclusively on income levels as the cause behind poverty in New Zealand.
"I think they're just going to legislate to have targets," Mr English said.
"It looks like they're just going to focus just on incomes and of course that's only half the story with any kind of poverty, including child poverty, because the other side of the story is the social dysfunction that locks people into long term deprivation."
English said the Government was right to have a policy and legislation on child poverty, but if it genuinely wanted to take a bipartisan approach, and get cross-party support for a bill, it needed to do a lot more to have a "genuine discussion".
Ms Ardern said she consulted with the Children's Commissioner and UNICEF and has "taken on-board their feedback".
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