Still more to do to remove education barriers, says Ardern

New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has told a Waitangi Day gathering that the country has “a way to go” to achieve equality in education and reduce child poverty.

Speaking at a dawn service held at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Islands region, Ardern said all New Zealanders should “have an aspiration to reduce unemployment, to increase education, to get rid of the inequality between Māori and Pākehā”.

She said that recent changes in government policies had seen “more young people going to work and to employment, and these are not just numbers”.