Parliament urged to maintain a focus on the children in ‘Feed the Kids’ debate

With parliament set to debate the ‘Feed the Kids Bill’ tomorrow, UNICEF NZ is urging Members of Parliament to focus on the rights and needs of Kiwi Kids and vote to support the Bill to Select Committee.

Deborah Morris-Travers, Advocacy Manager at UNICEF NZ, said, “Children themselves report that hunger is a priority issue in the context of child poverty in Aotearoa NZ[1] and they consider food in schools to be an important strategy for addressing the impact of poverty.

“The Bill before parliament would provide for State-funded breakfast and lunch programmes for all children in Decile 1 and 2 schools, building on what is currently provided by government and companies. The Bill would mean that schools have greater certainty about funding to provide food to their students.

“It’s not just ‘another day in paradise’ for the 270,000 New Zealand children who live in relative poverty. Living in poverty means going without the material resources and income that is needed for children to develop and thrive, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, achieve their full potential and participate as equal members of our society. This is breach of the fundamental human rights of New Zealand children and needs to be addressed.

“It’s important to build on current food programmes, to make a wider variety of food available and ensure the provision of lunch; as well as ensuring that food programmes build community and are delivered in positive, child-centred ways. The Bill should be referred to Select Committee to enable public consultation and a fuller debate about the provision of food as a way to mitigate the impact of poverty on children.

“In addition to debate about this Bill, there is a need for a strategic, cross-government approach to the urgent and complex social and economic issue of children living in poverty. Picking a few popular and ‘easy–to-do’ policies is an inadequate response when poverty is making so many children sick and significantly impacting on their education,” concluded Ms Morris-Travers.

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