Child poverty reduction and wellbeing legislation

The purpose of recent child poverty reduction and wellbeing legislation is to ensure reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing remains an ongoing priority through successive governments.

This significant legislation was passed into law on 20 December 2018 with near unanimous parliamentary support. The Child Poverty Reduction Bill (which was divided into two bills at its final reading) became the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 and the Children’s Amendment Act 2018, helping to ensure enduring commitment to reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing.

The Child Poverty Reduction Act

The Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 requires the government of the day to:

• set long-term (10-year) and intermediate (3-year) targets on a defined set of child poverty measures
• report annually on the set of child poverty measures
• report each Budget day on how the Budget will reduce child poverty and how the government is progressing towards its targets
• report on child poverty related indicators.

See the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018.

Find out more about the measures, targets, indicators and reporting requirements.

Children’s Amendment Act 2018

Amendments to the Children’s Act (2014) require successive governments to develop and publish a strategy to improve the wellbeing of all children and young people, with a particular focus on child poverty and those with greater needs.

The strategy sets out a shared understanding of what is important for child and youth wellbeing, what government is doing and how others can help. It also clearly outlines how progress will be measured and reported on so that we can all see the difference being made and where more work might be needed.

See the Children's Amendment Act 2018.

Find out more about the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy.

More information

The Child Poverty Reduction Bill's page on Parliament's website includes a link to the Bill itself, Supplementary Order Papers and a timeline of its progress through the House and Select Committee process.

Child Poverty Reduction Bill documents include a number of background documents related to the Child Poverty Reduction legislation, including the choice of measures.