Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike.

“What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Education Tākuta Ferris.

“Many tamariki rely on these meals as their only nourishment of the day, it is disgraceful that the government has put the wellbeing of their books over the wellbeing of our mokopuna.

“David Seymour may as well have cut the program entirely instead of insulting our tamariki with this slop.

“You do not sweep this kind of failure under the rug by blaming “teething problems.” This should have been thoroughly planned and tested before it was rolled out to ensure it worked for all tamariki. Instead, we have a system that has failed them, and now, it seems, no one wants to take responsibility.

“For every serious issue in this country, the government’s only solution has been to hand off their responsibility to someone else.

“We don’t have enough housing? Get overseas investors to sort it out. Our education system is failing? Charter schools will save us.

“School lunches are ‘too expensive’? Let's get the cheapest contractor we can find and hope our kids don’t get food poisoning.

“It’s time for these Ministers to stop passing the buck. They must apologise- publicly and without delay- to all the tamariki, mātua, and kura affected by this. They must own their mistakes and fix the system, because right now, it is failing the very people it was supposed to help”, said Ferris.

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