David Farrar: The Press found to have breached Media Council rules with its school lunches article

The Media Council has upheld a complaint by David Seymour’s office against this article on school lunches. It was found to have breached both the fairness and conflict of interest principles.

The first issue was that they ran the article, and didn’t even ask the Minister for comment. They only quoted opponents of the new school lunch programme.

Mike's Minute: To the media - a bit of balance please

I feel there should be a rule, and the rule is around balance.

Part of the media's demise is its unfairness in coverage, the latest example of which is the school lunch programme.

Ele Ludemann: How healthy were your school lunches?

The government is going to fund the provision of school lunches for less than half the amount Labour’s scheme cost.

This has resulted in a variety of criticisms, one of which is that children won’t like them/

The obvious response to that is that hungry children aren’t fussy.

Mike's Minute: Stop Whingeing, Seymour has cracked it

Who doesn’t love katsu chicken?

And with the katsu chicken, and the wraps, and the lasagne, David Seymour has saved us $130m.

All the moaners, whingers, whiners, and hand wringers can say sorry because it wasn’t the end of the world.

David Seymour: Ministry for Regulation, NZ's position on the Middle East and the Treaty Principles bill.

David Seymour talks with Jack Tame on Q+A about a variety of issues including the Ministry for Regulation, NZ's position on the Middle East and the Treaty Principles bill.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 5/8/24

Seymour keeps count of truants while his colleagues are counting on being able to halt the slide in Kiwi maths results

Our leaders in the past few days have focused on education and what they are doing – or will be doing – to improve the schooling of our children.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour is braying about school attendance improvements over the first two weeks of term three, brandishing data to show “that when the government takes education seriously, so do New Zealanders”.

Peter Williams: School lunches are not the government’s job

Seymour correct to ask the question

David Seymour’s pushback against the efficiency and value of the school lunch scheme has aroused the ire of tech entrepreneur and self - confessed Labour sympathiser Sir Ian Taylor.

Seymour, after originally wanting to dispense with them completely, now wants school lunches to be cheaper and have less waste from their distribution. As a senior minister in a government facing severe economic headwinds, his desire to save money is understandable.

But Sir Ian is having none of it.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 9/5/24

What’s new? A social agency with an emphasis on “investment” instead of “wellbeing” – but (psst!) we have had one of these before

A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency.

As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what works for those people and how to measure progress.

But wait.

Alwyn Poole: School Lunches: The $324million question (or ten questions)?

1. Why are some children in NZ going hungry in 2024?

2. What is it about our welfare system that needs to be fixed to ensure every child receives breakfast, lunch and dinner via their parents or caregivers?

3. Prof Boyd Swinburne stated this week that the school lunches have improved school attendance by 3 days a year (.75 days per term, 0.075 days per week) and had shown some mental health improvements. Is the $324m on food the best way to do that? How about the mental health gains from actually doing well at school – not just eating a sandwich?

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 25/3/24

How school lunches provide enough leftovers for food bank clients, caravan park residents – and feral pigs

Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024.

In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced us to her “ongoing Fiscal Sustainability Programme”, intended to embed “a culture of responsible spending across Government”.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive 24/8/23

“Three Waters” is flushed from recent govt press statements while National promises to flush away the new Three Waters laws

The latest bunch of ministerial statements tells us about a government splashing out on a programme that has delivered school lunches to 100 million school kids.

This comes from Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Education Minister Jan Tinetti, who notably do not mention the cost.