Merits of school lunches unpacked, as military-style academies prepped for service
As experts backed the efficacy of the lunch programme and politicians asked questions in the House yesterday, the minister for children announced a boot camp pilot for youth offenders
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, March 6, written by Anna Rawhiti-Connell.
In today’s edition: finance minister shoots down suggestion GST will rise as figures show tax take down; government ‘highly sceptical’ of Te Huia Auckland-Hamilton train service; the shortlist for the NZ Book Awards is out; but first, the hunt for evidence on school lunches and the seeming lack of it for boot camps
‘Spend less money to get more results’ - Seymour on lunches
The last oral question in the House yesterday came from Labour’s education spokesperson, Jan Tinetti, addressing the school lunch programme. Associate minister of education, David Seymour once again underlined his desire for “robust, statistically significant comparison that has been able to find that the programme has increased attendance at school.” The programme is not being “cut”, but Seymour said they want it to “spend less money to get more results.” Gabi Lardies has written a very good and comprehensive piece for The Spinoff this morning explaining who gets the lunches, what they cost, what’s in them and what teachers and principals say about its impact.
The baby and the bathwater - opposition and latest support
The government is looking for savings so there’s a start point for why this programme is under fire. Finance minister Nicola Willis has again described the lack of funding beyond this year as “an enormous fiscal cliff”. It has been the subject of questions well before now, and not just from opposition parties over the years. Justin Latif canvassed opinions at a South Auckland school in 2021 where parents raised concern about variation and quality. A Treasury report published last year found 12% of lunches were wasted. Seymour misquoted that figure on Checkpoint on Monday, saying it was 25%. Tinetti referenced the Ministry of Education yesterday, saying that wastage had halved to 6%. The Herald’s Kate MacNamara has previously unpacked issues around targeting (paywalled). The programme has had teething problems. Seymour wants evidence that government paying for lunch has educational outcomes, essentially divorcing the programme from the broader good of addressing food poverty. Because of the cost (and underpinning ideology), there’s a bid to find a direct line between attendance and free pasta salad. Unless you put every kid getting the lunches under strict labatory observation for several years and ignored every other thing going on in their lives, it might be tricky to point to the precise evidence that would suffice.
‘The honest tool’ tells us kids living in food poverty are up to four years behind kids who aren’t
In a Public Health Expert Briefing issued yesterday by Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau and Boyd Swinburn, attention was drawn to New Zealand’s 2022 Pisa results. For the first time, the PISA study included measures of food poverty. New Zealand ranked second worst in the OECD for the number of students missing meals due to lack of money, and achievement for students in food poverty was up to four years behind their food-secure peers, even after accounting for socioeconomic deprivation. McKelvie-Sebileau and Swinburn write that the school lunch programme is an effective intervention and a major safety net against food poverty for students. In an interview with RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan recently, education minister Erica Stanford described Pisa as “the honest tool” that tells us “relative to other countries, and not only relative to other countries but in terms of just our own performance, we are sliding.”
A military-style academy for youth offenders is coming…in June
While the school lunch programme in its current form is under review, the government made another youth-related announcement yesterday, heralding a pilot, coming in the middle of the year, of a military-style academy for youth offenders to be run by Oranga Tamariki. The Ombudsman called for a complete overhaul of Oranga Tamariki two weeks ago. Stewart Sowman-Lund looked at the arguments for and against when National put the policy on the table in 2022, raising questions of evidence. Minister for children Karen Chour said the acadamies will have a military-style component as well as a rehabilitative and trauma-informed care approach to help these young people turn their lives around and reduce their risk of reoffending.” The crackdown is part of the coalition government's 100 day plan, she said. The 100 day plan says “Begin work to crack down on serious youth offending.” The deadline for ticking off everything on the list is Friday, so you could say the crack down has begun.
Willis debunks speculation about GST raise
Finance minister Nicola Willis has debunked speculation from Labour’s Barbara Edmonds that the government is going to increase GST to cover the tax cuts. Speaking to the AM Show during a conversation about austerity, Willis responded to the speculation by ruling out any increases to GST during the government's term. Edmonds had pointed to 2010 when a John Key-led National government increased GST from 12.5 to 15% despite ruling it out during the election campaign. At the time, Key defended the increase by saying his inital “rule out” only related to using an increase to help cover the government's financial deficit. As the Herald’s Jenée Tibshraeny reports (paywalled), Willis has again created distance between National’s pre-election promise to get back in surplus by 2026/27 and what can be expected after Treasury figures released yesterday showed a fall in tax revenue.
Uncertain future for Te Huia
Speaking to Morning Report yesterday morning, transport minister Simeon Brown confirmed the draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on land transport has no funding for the Te Huia Auckland/Hamilton train service, saying the government is “highly sceptical” of the service Brown said it was one of the most subsidised public transport services in the country. The train service added a third service on Thursdays and Fridays earlier this month but a report tabled at a multi-agency meeitng earlier this month said subsidy per passenger was up $10 a head at $94 in the six months to December, 2023.
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Click and Collect
The Ockham NZ Book Awards Shortlist is out this morning, and our books editor Claire Mabey has a breakdown and shares her thoughts.
Plane breakdowns embarrassing, prevent media from reporting on Luxon’s Aussie trip, but Judith Collins says any fix or alternative to using the Defence Froce planes would be “so expensive, and frankly, we're in a cost of living crisis.”
The Bay of Plenty recently overtook Auckland as our most expensive rental market. Carmen Hall at the Bay of Plenty Times talks to a family desperately trying to find somewhere for their elderly mum to live.
An untimely case of entitleditis. In a new episode of Gone by Lunchtime Toby, Annabelle and Ben discuss the prime minister’s entitlements and a whiplash week in parliament.
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Hayden Donnell writes that the government is spending millions of dollars to create more traffic when they could just create more traffic for free. Peri Zee suggests that if Wellington won't allow new housing, maybe everyone should move to Upper Hutt instead. Tara Ward reviews Dynamic Planet, a climate change doco that isn't soul crushing. Samuel Scott calculates the true cost of the government's war on coffee. Madeleine Chapman and Stewart Sowman-Lund argue Premier House should be demolished and present a radical alternative.
Sporting snippets
The Hurricanes franchise will apologise to government over “redneck” haka
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Side-eye now every time a member of this government says ‘we can’t do that because we’re in a cost of living crisis’
The long form article about the plans for transportation is worth a read... More motorways leads to more traffic & doesn't reduce congestion, whereas bike lanes & buses do, plus they don't want money going to footpaths?