Opening Speech in the First Reading Debate of the Feed the Kids Bill
Hone Harawira - MANA Leader and Te Tai Tokerau Member of Parliament
Wednesday 28 May 2014
Tēnā koe Mr Speaker
Mr Speaker, I move that the Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill be now read a first
time.
I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill.
Mr Speaker, Nelson Mandela once said that “there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which
it treats its children” and if I could add a comment, it would be “and blaming those too vulnerable to care for
themselves and their children, speaks more about our selfishness than it does about the hopelessness of poverty.”
Mr Speaker, back in April last year I was part of a big MANA Feed the Kids gig where we fed more than 1,500 kids up in
Otara. They had heaps of fun and when they left they all took a lunch away, happily chanting “Feed the Kids”, and I
thought to myself – these kids get it, their whanau get it, their teachers get it, and I sincerely hope enough of us get
it too, because Treasury itself has told us there are now 285,000 kids living in poverty in Aotearoa, 100,000 of whom go
to school hungry every day.
Yes, it’s nice to know that KidsCan feeds some 10,000 of them most days and that the KickStart programme feeds about
12,000 a day, but the reality is that even with government’s announcement in last year’s Budget, nearly 80,000 children
are still going to school hungry in Aotearoa, every single day.
And yes, schools around the country have started their own breakfast clubs with support from teachers, students,
parents, local businesses and the wider community - but they tell us that it takes a lot of hard work, and a lot of
goodwill to keep it going, and that having secure funding would be a godsend.
And the really embarrassing thing is that nearly every country in the OECD, apart from us, already runs programmes to
feed kids at school.
Some, like Finland and Sweden provide fully state-funded meals to every school student as part of a wider framework of
child wellbeing – a commitment that sees them regularly top the international surveys in child health and educational
achievement.
Some provide free meals to kids with parents on low incomes and others provide free meals to schools in areas of high
deprivation, but while the approaches differ, they all share the same view - backed up by the same kind of research and
information from teachers, doctors, nurses and policy analysts, that is available to us here - that kids need a good
feed every day if they are to develop into healthy, and well educated adults.
Mr Speaker, New Zealand really needs to join the rest of the enlightened world and make a commitment to feeding our
kids, starting with those in greatest need, to help them to grow well and learn well.
Groups like the Child Poverty Action Group have long advocated for government-funded food in schools programmes as a
simple and cheap step to reducing poverty.
The report of the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty, released a year and a
half ago now, did not recommend throwing in a few dollars only if the corporates gave some as this government has
proposed - no - they recommended that “government should develop and implement a government-funded food in schools
programme” and that “government has a responsibility to provide leadership and resources, to assist schools through a
national strategy for food in Early Childhood Centres and schools in low decile neighbourhoods.”
Mr Speaker - I have been humbled by the positive responses to MANA’s Feed the Kids Bill from a whole host of child,
family, health, education, and faith organisations all around the country, who helped raise awareness about just how
many of our kids are going to school hungry in Aotearoa, and what we should be doing about it.
They have worked hard to remind us all that the crisis of child hunger and its devastating effects on brain development,
health and learning means we need to urgently focus on feeding the kids rather than blaming the parents; that poverty
has doubled in the last 25 years and children are its greatest victim; and that poverty won’t go away without big
changes in employment, wages, housing and support for families in need.
Mr Speaker - things have changed a lot from when everyone was scoffing at MANA for even talking about Feeding the Kids
during Election 2011, to a TV poll last year that showed 70% of Kiwis support a government-funded food in schools
programme; and to food in schools being the only policy issue to make the top 10 news stories in 2013.
And much of that awareness has come about as a result of the excellent work and commitment of the Community Coalition
for Food in Schools – which now has 30 members – and in particular, the efforts of Deborah Morris-Travers, former CEO of
Every Child Counts and now Advocacy Manager for UNICEF NZ.
Mr Speaker, the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group said that child poverty doesn’t just impact on children
and their families – it costs all of us, a lot. In fact, it’s estimated that child poverty costs New Zealanders $6-8
billion a year - in health, justice system costs, and in lost productivity and a lower tax take - and yet we continue to
be one of the worst performers in the OECD on child wellbeing.
Our rates of preventable diseases like rheumatic fever are high, we have lower educational achievement than in other
developed countries, and yet we’ll happily spend nearly $1.5 billion a year on prisons to feed one of the highest
incarceration rates in the world.
Unemployment is the highest it’s been for nearly 15 years, nearly half of all young Māori and PI are without work and
are not in education or training, and the other half are getting ready to go to Aussie.
Feeding the Kids won’t solve all these problems – but it is real, it is affordable, it is something we can do right now,
and we know that it will help our kids grow up to be better, healthier contributors to society.
We’ve costed the Bill to allow for a co-ordinator in each school to oversee the provision of breakfast and lunch in all
decile 1-2 schools in Aotearoa; feeding more than 100,000 kids in our poorest communities; and using existing programmes
like KidsCan and KickStart or working through other local initiatives.
With very few exceptions schools have supported the Feed the Kids kaupapa because they know they’ll get more bang for
their educational buck - kids will turn up to school on time, they’ll be settled and not disruptive, and they’ll be
ready to learn.
And while I’m at it I’d also like to thank all the secondary and tertiary students who backed this bill, because when
young people say that hunger is their number one priority, and that food in schools is the best solution to it, then
that says it all.
Mr Speaker - I know the bill isn’t perfect; I hear the korero about feeding the kids being a parent’s responsibility,
but the truth is that a lot of people have been so poor, for so long, that they struggle to make the right choices and
often end up making the wrong ones. And all the while our kids go hungry …
And I’ve heard a lot about increasing employment opportunities, and upgrading housing, and improving access to health
and developing better educational pathways … and all of that is necessary and good, but it takes a long time to happen.
And all the while our kids go hungry …
And every other proposal I’ve heard from the Child Poverty Action Group, the Children’s Commissioner, health promotion
agencies and advisory groups all the way up to the World Health Organisation’s Report on Child Health, makes a lot of
sense to me.
But all I want to do with this bill is make sure that as we work through all these other critical and important
initiatives, our kids are getting fed.
Mr Speaker - I welcome the calls to extend the Bill to include the Kohanga and ECE sector and decile 3-4 schools, and to
allow those involved in school and community gardens to make a contribution to this discussion too, because this is an
exercise that will require the efforts of the whole community, and I urge the House to vote this bill through at first
reading so that the Maori Affairs select committee can call for submissions from those who know best, and those who care
most, in order that we can develop a robust food-in-schools programme that enhances the well-being of our children, and
enhances the future prospects of our society.
Tēna tatou katoa e te whare
ends