By Russell Palmer of RNZ
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is aiming to get problems with school lunches fixed by the start of term two - but won't resign the portfolio if he doesn't.
The opposition is also pushing back at Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's advice for parents disappointed about the programme.
Meanwhile, there's confusion at Parliament about Seymour's meeting with Education Minister Erica Stanford - but both seem to think it's much ado about nothing.
Seymour pared back the school lunch programme, saying in October last year it would save $130 million compared to the cost of Labour's approach.
But it has been plagued by problems, with concerns from west Auckland schools about the lunches being late, inedible, repetitive, or failing to meet dietary requirements.
Most recently, a Murchison school found plastic had been melted on to the food.
Seymour said there had been a full investigation into that and he had taken action.
"At one of the 27 regional kitchens, they overheated the ovens, they set the wrong temperature. That led to the burning. There then was insufficient quality control to stop it being sent out. All of that is being investigated and clear instructions are being put in place to prevent it from happening again.
"You've got to bear in mind there's 143,000 of these meals going out every day. That's a very significant number of meals. It's a couple of million already this year and as a result we've got it right just about every time. In this case it was wrong and we've done something about it."
Seymour said he aimed to get the problems with the meals fixed by April 28, the start of term 2 of the school year.
"The practical issues we're facing now, it's a matter of weeks. I expect to start term 2 in tip top shape, but I also just point out there will always be people who criticise.
"People said we couldn't deliver on time, we're now delivering on time 100 percent of the time. There's some complaints about some of the quality of the food, we're working to overcome that. Where we get to in the end is delivering in full, on time, with the quality promise."
However, he said he had no intention to stand down if there were still issues.
"This is one of many parts of my education portfolio, in terms of this particular issue I'm just focused on fixing it."
Missed meeting
Seymour had been set to meet with Education Minister Erica Stanford this morning. She had put the topic at the top of their agenda for the regular meeting - but he never showed up.
"I was in my office just after 11.30 (am) for the meeting ... meetings shift but we've rescheduled for tomorrow. Our private secretaries and secretaries are in contact with each other," Stanford said.
Seymour also professed a tightly packed schedule.
"The meeting was organised on the basis that we both had to go to caucus ... you can't really control the timing, if it goes over we couldn't meet and that's what happened," Seymour told reporters.
However, the rescheduling was news to him.
"I don't have any current plan to meet with her that I'm aware of. I'm sure we'll get to some meeting - we meet reasonably regularly, about once a month.
"I will get to her, but we have regularly scheduled meetings ... I'll get to her."
He said it was not for Stanford to have confidence in him - that was a matter for the prime minister.
"Look, it's a really collegial relationship and I hesitate to mention any other discussions but I did actually brief all ministers including her about this yesterday and they were all quite comfortable with it. So I wouldn't normally go into that level of detail but I think it's important context."
Marmite sandwiches and fruit
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had previously said he expected Seymour to give the school lunch programme his "full attention", but this morning changed tack - telling Newstalk ZB he would rather the coalition government did not have to provide the lunches but, "If you are unhappy with it, for God's sake, go make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag".
It was a stance Seymour backed.
"Well, I just trade in facts. The Prime Minister's absolutely correct, parents do have that option - we haven't banned taking your kids own lunch to school with them, you're allowed to do that."
Luxon was clear however he was not letting Seymour off the hook.
"Look, I mean there's lunches that aren't up to scratch. I've got every confidence David's all over the detail and ultimately he can fix it. He needs to ... I've got every confidence he can fix it ... he's accountable for fixing it, he will."
'Unmitigated disaster'
Labour leader Chris Hipkins described the whole revamp of the programme as an "unmitigated disaster", saying it had got to the point where the Luxon needed to take more leadership over the situation.
"His response this morning - which was simply to say 'Oh the lunch programme probably shouldn't exist and parents should just feed their own kids in the first place' - shows actually what their true agenda has been here, which is to run down the school lunches programme so they can justify cutting it."
He said the previous programme set up under Labour had been targeted at the one-third of children who were more likely to be arriving at school without lunch because they were the ones who were less likely to be settled and achieving in education because they were hungry.
"This was set up to fail. David Seymour wanted to cut the school lunches programme in the first place.
"The vast bulk of parents do the very best that they can ... Christopher Luxon seems blind to the effects of poverty in New Zealand."
Hipkins said it was time to take the school lunches programme off David Seymour, and the government should simply go back to Labour's model, saying it was flexible enough to do what the Prime Minister had suggested.
"The old programme allowed the local business or the community organisation who was doing the catering to work with the school to figure out what was best for the kids in that school. In some cases it was sandwiches, a piece of fruit and something else."
Hipkins had little sympathy for the suggestion it was just teething issues which would take time to work through, "because the multinational corporation that's providing this food has a track record of not sorting these problems - whether it's prison food, whether it's hospital food, whether it's other major contract they've had ... a very patchy track record".
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said Luxon's comments about Marmite and apples was trying to shift the blame away from himself.
She said 160,000 children were living in material hardship, and those parents did not have the money to be providing their own lunches.
"That is intentionally inflammatory and outrageous language in order to distract all of our attention from the government -and particularly the Prime Minister's failure of leadership here.
"Inequality is not just connected to but is driving poverty. That is crystal clear, that is how economics works, and this government is knowingly plunging more children into child poverty."
