The Greens have gone on the attack against National's pitch to families, opening a new front in an election campaign that is picking up speed. Their central claim is that National has failed on child poverty, and they want voters to connect that record with the party's family-friendly messaging. As an alternative, the Greens are promoting free early childhood education as a policy they say would take pressure off household budgets. They are also calling for the school lunches programme to be expanded so more children receive a meal during the school day. The argument frames child wellbeing as a test of whether politicians actually mean what they say about backing families. National, for its part, has been courting the same voters with its own family-focused commitments. Expect this clash to sharpen as polling day approaches and both sides compete for the same group of parents.