An email released under the Official Information Act has revealed that Ministry of Education officials were well aware of performance issues by multinational company Compass before it was awarded the revamped school lunch programme last September.

Women’s Rights Co-leader Jill Ovens says the well documented failures of Compass and its partners to deliver edible food on time to our nation’s children is not actually saving money if the children cannot eat the meals.

Ms Ovens says schools could be provided with sandwiches or wraps with simple fillings, fruit, and carrot sticks or other food that children will eat.

“Such products should ideally be locally sourced, which is what we argued when Compass won contracts for hospital food in six DHBs back in 2014.”

She says there were many complaints about the standard of hospital meals at the time, but the DHBs concerned were locked into 15-year contracts with penalties for getting out.

Compass and Kiwi-owned Libelle are the only businesses out of 156 suppliers to last year’s school lunch programme to have been retained for this year’s cut-price model.

A nationwide protest is to be held today [Sunday, 9 March] against the standard of school lunches being provided.

The “Let Them Eat Cake” rallies are also protesting the indifferent attitude of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon after he told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking earlier this week that if parents continued to be dissatisfied with the lunches, they should pack them themselves.

“If you really are unhappy with it, for God’s sake, go make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag just like you and I had.”

To be fair to the Prime Minister, while he said he would rather the State did not have the responsibility of feeding students, he acknowledged that children were coming to school with no lunch and he was not willing to let them go hungry.

Ms Ovens says there is a clear link with children’s hunger and their ability to concentrate in school.

“Many single mothers regularly go without food to feed their children. Children frequently go without breakfasts. The food in schools programme was a cost-effective way to alleviate this inequity, feed the children, and enable them to learn at school.”

The Women's Rights Party recognises children are disproportionally affected by poverty, and supports action on strategies to alleviate poverty.

Ms Ovens says incomes are so low for many families, and rents and food prices so high, that poor families simply cannot afford sufficient food.

She says school lunches need to be provided universally so children receiving them are not victimised or shamed.

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