Yesterday, Christopher Luxon suggested parents who were dissatisfied with the new school lunch programme should ‘‘make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag’’ for their children instead.
The suggestion prompted the NZEI Te Riu Roa education union to write to Education Minister Erica Stanford, asking that she immediately take over the running of the school lunch programme.
East Otago High School principal Helen Newcombe said the comment was ‘‘incredibly disrespectful’’ to students across New Zealand.
She said it was easy for Mr Luxon to suggest Marmite sandwiches and fruit because ‘‘he lives in a life where you have the things you need’’ and many students in New Zealand did not have that option.
‘‘For a lot of families, making lunch is doable, but for some of our students there wouldn’t be anything to make lunch from.
‘‘We just have lots of hungry kids at the end of the day.’’
Some families were simply not able to provide Marmite sandwiches.
The botched rollout of the new school lunch programme meant East Otago was being sent ‘‘rubbish’’ for lunches.
There had been no improvement from two weeks ago when the school was sent mac ’n’ cheese five days in a row.
Ms Newcombe said she was in ‘‘limbo’’ not knowing what to expect from the school lunch programme.
‘‘It’s just not consistent and it’s embarrassing to provide it to the students.’’
‘‘When [Associate Education Minister] David Seymour says he’ll be happy to have butter chicken 11 days in a row ... let’s challenge him to it.’’
NZEI has also called for the programme to revert to using local providers after a series of disasters, culminating yesterday in the Ministry for Primary Industries announcing it would investigate the lunches after a principal found plastic melted into some of them.
NZEI president Ripeka Lessels said Mr Seymour had failed to resolve the problems introduced to the programme when he altered it to cut costs, and now Ms Stanford needed to step in.
‘‘The images of plastic melted into school lunches served to our children is heartbreaking.
‘‘These children deserve safe and healthy meals, delivered on time, so they can learn.’’
She said Mr Seymour had shown a lack of care for tamariki by failing to resolve ongoing concerns about meals going missing, arriving late, being too hot or too cold, and safety risks with ingredients.
‘‘No-one would invite a child into their home and then serve them melted plastic, an ingredient they might be allergic to, or food that didn’t fit with their religious beliefs.
‘‘The government should treat all children with the respect any caring person would.’’
Ms Lessels said the quickest way to remedy the ‘‘litany of issues’’ with the school lunch programme was to revert to the way it was previously run, using local providers.
‘‘Prior to the government’s funding cuts, local arrangements worked incredibly well.
‘‘They created jobs within the community, provided nutritious, quality food, as well as multiple learning opportunities for tamariki.’’
A spokesman for the Prime Minister declined to comment when contacted by the Otago Daily Times, instead pointing to a transcript of some of Mr Luxon’s other comments on Newstalk ZB.
The former Air New Zealand chief executive told interviewer Mike Hosking he thought parents should take responsibility for feeding their own children.
‘‘I’d rather the state didn’t have to do so.
‘‘It should be a parental responsibility.’’
However, he added the fact was ‘‘kids are actually coming to school with no lunch’’.
‘‘I’m not willing to let them go hungry. Actually, kids should be learning, and so that’s why we’ve got a school lunch programme.’’
Carisbrook School principal Bruce James said the school lunch programme was vital for some students.
He said while parental responsibility was essential, hungry children could not learn effectively.
Families might not have the resources to make balanced, nutritious meals daily because of financial hardship, time constraints and access to quality food.
