Summarised by Centrist
Asked about complaints regarding poor-quality meals, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon dismissed the outrage, telling parents to “make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag, just like you and I had.”
Despite the government’s promise to fix the problems, Luxon’s message was clear: if parents are unhappy, they should pack their own lunches.
Luxon acknowledged issues with the programme, saying, “some of the lunches aren’t up to scratch,” but assured listeners that Associate Education Minister David Seymour was “all over the detail” and would ensure schools get what they were promised.
Seymour, meanwhile, admitted that an incident at Murchison Area School—where children found plastic baked into their meals—was a “major failure.” The school’s principal, Andy Ashworth, described the meals as “appalling.”
However, Seymour insisted the programme was improving, saying, “Just as we were able to overcome the on-time delivery issue, we will overcome the issue around the complaints on quality.”
The controversy comes amid intense media coverage, with RNZ alone running 31 stories on school lunches in just two and a half weeks.
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