Friday 9 February 2007

Alliance calls for free school meals in radical strategy to give all children a head start

The Alliance Party has called for free school meals for all children as part of a radical strategy to end the widening gap between children of the rich and children of the poor.

Alliance Party youth spokesperson Sarah Campbell says the Labour government is failing New Zealand youth from the very start of life and from the very start of the day.

"The problem of hungry kids is a result of the inequality of New Zealand society, and the number of children going to school without breakfast and going hungry throughout the day is a direct and visible sign of Labour’s failure to eradicate child poverty in New Zealand over the last 7 years."

Ms Campbell says research from the Ministry of Social Development shows that the "disease of inequality" is on the increase, with hungry kids the latest symptom.

The Alliance is committed to the best start for all children, which requires the eradication of child poverty, and an end to hunger in schools, she says.

"Children go hungry because of poverty. Families in New Zealand cannot afford to feed their kids because of rent, school expenses, medical expenses and all the other everyday expenses that low income families have to cover in this country."

Anti-people economic policies under Labour in the 1980s and National in the 1990s were predicted to lead to this situation, and now the predictions have come true, she says.

Ms Campbell says National’s introduction of market rents to state housing in the 1990s was among many measures which pushed more Kiwis to the poverty-line.

"It was basically taking food out of peoples cupboards to pay for tax cuts for the already wealthy."

The Labour government has done little to reverse these policies, and without such reforms, the cycle of poverty cannot be stopped, she says.

"Labour are offering token fiddling around the edges, and National are offering barefaced lies to get back in power," says Ms Campbell.

"Neither of the status quo parties can address this problem. The Alliance offer a fresh perspective and real solutions to the failures of Labour and National."

The Alliance supports the introduction of a universal family benefit as well as free meals in schools for all children – funded by the government through taxation.

The way to feed hungry school kids is to make society fairer, with progressive taxation, improved wages and benefits, truly free education and healthcare, and the immediate abolition of GST on food.

ENDS

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