Cinematic landscapes, cute sheep, more cute sheep, and an abundance of lamb chop… oh, add not-feeding-kids-sufficiently-at-school to the list of New Zealand fast facts.
It seems certain New Zealand MPs have gone and voted down a “Feed the Kids” bill, which would have provided free school lunches to the poorest of NZ’s students. In NZ, schools are divided into “deciles” or ten groupings of schools, with the first decile representing schools with the 10% poorest students. The bill would have provided breakfasts and lunches, at the cost of the state, to schools in deciles one and two. Or the 20% poorest of kids.
As reported by the NZ Herald, the Prime Minister of NZ, John Key, was against the program, and had this to say:
“These are the facts,” Mr Key said. “At Te Waiu o Ngati Porou School, Ruatoria, Decile one, how many children came to school without lunch – answer – zero.”
At Sylvia Park School, decile two – there one or two kids, and at Manurewa Intermediate, a decile one school with a roll of 711, perhaps 12 had gone to school with no lunch, he said.
“Yes there is an issue where some children come to school without lunch. That number of children is relatively low,” Mr Key said.
Randomly call a school or two to determine if kids needed a free lunch? Sounds like a legit method of conducting research….
Greens MP Metiria Turei had proposed the bill, and was apparently not very objective regarding her arguments for it either; last week she had claimed that 90% of kids did not eat lunch, a claim she had to apologise for when it was revealed to be untrue. Further, it would seem that NZ has a whole slew of other programs that are already designed to provide food for kids:
The Government argued that it already contributes to programmes that provide food in schools through Kickstart groups such as Kidscan and through Fonterra.
Free food creates dependence, but no food creates dead-kids-ence… and some crappy food creates fat-kids-ence…. Of course the issue is more complex than that, but it really wouldn’t be that expensive to provide free food for the poorest twenty percent of kids, and I strongly doubt that kids would give up on their ambitions because they became addicted to free lunches that would only be provided while they were at school.
Anyway, enough with the petty politics and the bickering politicians. It would seem that one enterprising fellow has created a very interesting manner of pestering MPs who were against the bill. In a post on The Ruminator:
“Here is the long list. It’s the National Party + David Seymour + Peter Dunne. You can click their names and send them an email if you like, I even auto-populated the subject line and the body, so you can just click and send.
The email subject is “Feed the kids bill”
The body says: “You voted so that children in need will not be fed. I am not mad, I am very disappointed, actually I am mad too”
Genius. Imagine the thousands of emails these men and women would receive from concerned citizens, concerned “citizens”, and unconcerned random internet trolls…. It’s as easy as clicking two buttons to show your displeasure to MPs in a country literally filled with sheep who don’t wish to give free lunches to the 20% poorest kids…. I actually think it’s a good idea for politician’s emails to be publicly available, keeps them accountable. Hopefully this gets implemented in America soon…
Original article http://ruminator.co.nz/here-is-the-list-of-mps-who-voted-to-not-give-children-food-here-is-how-to-contact-them/
Other sources http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11419393
http://www.minedu.govt.nz/parents/allages/educationinnz/schoolsinnewzealand/schooldecileratings.aspx
Why did you do this? List of New Zealand MPs Who Voted Against Giving The Poorest Kids Free School Food..
John Key
Bill English
Gerry Brownlee
Steven Joyce
Paula Bennett
Jonathan Coleman
Amy Adams
Christopher Finlayson
Simon Bridges
Hekia Parata
Anne Tolley
Nick Smith
Murray McCully
Nathan Guy
Nikki Kaye
Tim Groser
Michael Woodhouse
Todd McClay
Sam Lotu-Liga
Maggie Barry
Craig Foss
Jo Goodhew
Nicky Wagner
Louise Upston
Paul Goldsmith
David Carter
Chester Borrows
Tim Macindoe
Jami-Lee Ross
Jo Hayes
Judith Collins
Melissa Lee
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
Jian Yang
Alfred Ngaro
Maurice Williamson
Jacqui Dean
David Bennett
Jonathan Young
Brett Hudson
Ian McKelvie
Mark Mitchell
Simon O’Connor
Scott Simpson
Paul Foster-Bell
Chris Bishop
Tutehounuku Korako
Jono Naylor
Todd Barclay
Andrew Bayly
Matt Doocey
Sarah Dowie
Barbara Kuriger
Todd Muller
Shane Reti
Alastair Scott
Stuart Smith
Peter Dunne
David Seymour
This is werry appalling!
every member listed… you are all on stand down orders from the New Zealand Common Law Society as of 25th February 2013 when queen elizabeth 2 was tried for criminal activities to mankind including genocide to 50,000 indigenous canadian school children by the International Common Law Courts of Justice Brussels
So who is going to bring these people to justice???
Growing up I experienced first hand what it was like to go without food on an ongoing, daily basis.
I was brought up with 6 siblings by my solo mum who was an alcoholic, she was a slave to her addiction we were victims of our circumstances, who’s fault it was, was irrelevant to us, we only knew that we were hungry and there was no food.
we went to school without breakfast or lunch and often no dinner when we got home.
We survived by eating out of rubbish bins and I can remember stealing kids lunches out of their bags.
I was terrified of being caught and shamed in front of everyone.
With all of that going on how could we be expected to concentrate on schoolwork! I wish someone had passed a bill back then to feed the hungry children.
I am now a single mother who works in full time employment as well as juggling a busy household with 4 children and several grandchildren.
There is little time or money to spare, as well as ensure my own children are well fed I have also have fed quite a lot of hungry neighborhood children over the years when they have been in need.
My daughter has worked as a teacher aid in a low decile school and saw many children without lunch On a daily basis.
Are their parents being irresponsible? probably but until you find out what the issue is, don’t judge!
Is it the children’s fault? If course not! So don’t punish them for the situation they are in.
I totally agree with the Garden to Table scheme and Kickstart is great but in the meantime there are still hungry children that are going without lunch and this is affecting their ability to do their schoolwork. Teach them skills to survive and feed them as they learn, it shouldn’t be either/or.
For the parents that are being irresponsible, that is a separate issue and should be dealt with as such.
Allowing the children to continue without the basic necessities such as food because they don’t want to send the wrong message to the parents is a terrible reason.
The government has turned it’s back on these vulnerable children and for all the people that are in support of this I can only think that you have no idea what it is like to not know when or where your next meal is going to come from.
this mentality cuts into the very core of humanity and what it means to be compassionate and caring to those in need.
I’ts not a complex problem and the solution is not that difficult…feed the children in low decile schools!
I can remember when food was not there to eat, we would be out somewhere on the street and you would see someone come out of a Butchers or Grocery Shop and drop their Rashion Book you would run over and pick it up and chase them and give it back You new what it was like to be hungry. During that time I had to go to a health camp twice and I remember my bones used to stick out of my skin and my belly used to stick out, it still does but my belly, it’s gone the other way and I need to loose some weight But those Politicians have never been there so they don’t care. The trouble to day we do not have people from the coal face elected were the expert advice and the experience to fix the problems come from. But that is not how society works or how people think, they must have had a high education and initials twice the length of there full name. Move on forget history and go down he same road and fall into the same holes, is that progress wouldn’t think so.
Everyday, we pay taxes to the government, and instead of them using it to do something nice, they take it for they own. I don’t like this, and I believe you do neither.
Keep up the good work Anonymous! This impressed me, as many things you do/did.
Peter.
Peter,
How much of your own money do you use when you’re out and about helping the needy in your local community?
Anything you donate will be tax exempt, so it won’t go into the government coffers.
Giving money to needy isn’t tax exempt. Only registered charities who give you a tax invoice. And government controls who is worthy of registration.
What a silly system. Of all the ways the world could have evolved… I’m in the process of retiring my IRD number and stopping paying tax. Idc if they bankrupt me but they won’t.
Check this out people. http://www.investigatemagazine.com/FEB00%20Tax%20NZ.htm I’m stopping funding the international banking bandits the government collects taxes and pays interest to. What have most of you got to lose? I mean – really? Bugger all actually. Maybe your slave collars.
Best! xx
Yes we pay our taxes so some govt finance minister can invest it in a failed european market where he losers the lot
Thank you Anonymous, the world needs you now more than ever before.
We need another system but we also need to be able to work honestly together. Mauri ora.
LET’S TROLL THEM!
This is the email I sent out:
Good Day,
I hope you are all having a fine day thus far and if not my honest and humblest condolences for I do not know what current situations you are going through but one thing I do know that it’s better to be crying in a Benz than to be crying in a crappy car. It has been brought to my attention that you all have voted against a bill to feed the Future and by Future I mean Children so that we are all on the same page going forward. So it’s a complete shock that a country such as New Zealand whose currency being stronger than the US will refuse to invest in their own country’s future where there are countries out there with worse exchange rates varying in over a $100 to $1USD and yet they still manage to set up systems in place to feed Primary and Secondary School Students. Therefore New Zealand has no excuse whatsoever as to why they cannot do the same. To refuse to feed the future is to commit economic Suicide.
And this is the response from Chester Borrows:
Don’t put me in your pigeon hole – my experience and life is a lot broader than you know obviously.
Pretty arrogant really.
C
To me it’s a horrible response that I have already covered in my email and if caring about the well being of children going to school is being arrogant then by all means i’m ready for my tattoo
I was horrified when I first heard about this. There are lower decile schools that supply breakfast but that won’t last all day for the kids. The national Govt is the worst thing to happen here in NZ. We have become not a democracy but a state of do as I say.
Please put full e-mail of Simon O’Connor… His email is half ..
& Thanks for telling … I send e-mail all…
SImon O’Connor’s link doesn’t work…
thanks, the author was notified.
One of the names listed above are an unknown email address or there may be a mistake with their names and email address.. Simon O’connor
A lot of people with no scruples, no remorse, no shame, a lot of people with no guts to get on the right side of doing the right thing by supporting the vote to help feed children.
Don’t worry, Karma is coming for each and every one of you, and a lot of people ain’t going to be there to comfort and sympathise with you.
Start putting the future of New Zealand first, by ensuring that all children have access to food. The poorer have got poorer, Northland has been neglected for so long. Here’s to change in the upcoming by-election in Northland, go NZ First.
Thanks for putting this up Anon, this current govt are a law unto themselves.
Tried to use your links to send our dear pm a letter on this issue but it wouldn’t send so thought I would just post in here. Thanks for this article. And thank you for exposing those politicians who voted against such an important bill.
You voted so that children in need will not be fed. I am not mad, I am very disappointed, actually I am mad too.
Growing up I was always proud to say I was a kiwi and came from New Zealand. Since you were voted in for your third term last year, I have never been more ashamed to call myself a kiwi.
Thanks for listening to the needs of the people in your country. You’re clearly a very empathetic person….
Cheers,
Belinda Holmes (a caring New Zealander actually wanting t support all our countries people)
Feed the kids
the miserable bastards look after their own kind the wealthy that’s how greedy the mongrels are
Has anyone noticed that most of those who voted against the Bill for Food in Schools are white and pro-National? Now that says alot of our so-called democratically elected representatives of NZers
United Nations Slams Canada For Letting People Go Hungry…http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=16536
The Penalization of Poverty http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/PenalizationOfPoverty.aspx
create a CC list so that we can email them all at once.
We’ve just passed legislation in Scotland that gives free school meals to all children of the ages 7-9. This helps them to concentrate making the job easier for the teachers and removing any rich/poor stigma that would normally come from getting welfare at school.
This is a depressingly long list of people that are elected “supposedly” to represent the best interests of the people. Sack the fuckin lot of them!
The small rural school I teach in has just been moved from a decile 1 to 4. Why? Some beaucratic clot, looked at the farmers in our district, and designated the incomes affluent? Our catchment of children is a low income Maori community whose children who awesome, but why should they be deprived of $16,000 a year when even a ream of coloured card is “gold.”
Lets all grow up and be adults and parents who are dedicated to nuturing and teaching our children with education with happy and settled minds and comfort.
I would be angry finding my children went to school without having breakfast and not taking lunch to school back in the days of the 70s, 80 and 90s.
Today I find it hard to believe that adults do not take note of the crisis of children going to school without breakfast and lunch and that If it is true then Why is the matter being ignored?
Adults whether they are in parliament or not should be acting responsible for those who are growing and learning to be the future stars, professors and scientists of our families and future generations.
KidsCanNZ is a charity and should not be responsible for the children in schools as the responsibility belongs to the parents and families while they are at home then it becomes the responsibility of teachers and staff at schools until they return home again.
I believe it is up to the parents to feed their children. Waged earners already pay sizeable amounts of their taxes to unwaged beneficiaries. Instead of feeding these children, they should be educating the parents about good nutrition on a low budget. Some breakfast examples – poached eggs on toast – 80cents per serve. 2 weektbix with milk – 50 cents per serve, banana on toast – 40 cents per serve. I have been a beneficiary and know how hard it is to make ends meet. But my kids never went hungry and very rarely had takeaways. Yogurt and meusli bars were a rare treat. If they were hungry after school, rather than have them woof down a loaf of bread, they learn’t how to nuke a potato for 3 minutes, add a lick of butter and a pinch of salt and enjoy a hearty snack. I grew my own veges at about a tenth of the cost of buying bought ones and made do. Cheaper cuts of meat made hearty meals for a fraction of the cost of takeaway food.
I agree. Also if you can’t afford to feed your children properly and take care of them properly don’t have them! It is not the schools responsibility to feed the children it’s yours as the parent. Stop trying to pass the buck. Maybe have 1 or 2 children instead of 4+ if you can’t afford to take care of them properly. This whole scenario just makes me so angry!
You obviously don’t care about these innocent children remember it’s about the children u know some kids are born due to rape or a violent parent do not judge parents or their kids until u have lived their life clearly ur a John Keg supporter
I believe it is up the the parents to feed their children. Waged earners already contribute a sizeable amount of their taxes to supporting the unwaged. You can easily feed a child or adult for under a dollar a meal. For example – 2 eggs on toast @ .70 cents per serve. 2 weetbix with half a cup of milk and a banana – 70 cents. Cheese on toast – 30 cents per serve. There is no reason for children to go hungry. I have been on a benefit and learn’t how to feed my family on a shoe string. We should be teaching parents about wise economical food choices. Processed foods such as yogurt and meusli bars are expensive and do not satisfy. When my teenage boys would come home from school hungry, they would nuke a spud, add a lick of butter and a pinch of salt and keep full until the evening meal was served. I planted a vege garden. You can buy a packet of seeds for less than the cost of one serve of veges.
That is lovely Granny. Kudos to you. Unfortunately the children who aren’t lucky enough to have parents as lovely as you are the ones who are suffering. It is not the children’s fault they are hungry. And while we all sit with our fingers up our bums humming and harring over who’s fault it is, they are still hungry. They are not learning. There is a cycle here and it needs to be broken. Let’s sort the kids out, get them fed. Teach them to plant gardens, to budget, to learn trades and get careers. Teach them how to feed themselves and their future children, so that when they are adults, the cycle will be broken. It might be too late to teach what you did as a parent to the parents, but it’s not too late for the kids
We don’t actually have an abundance of lamb chops – lamb is expensive here, as is food in general. Gigantic dairy farms to feed China, those we have. You would think with all that food we produce here, we’d have enough to feed our kids but it seems not.
We actually do have enough food to feed everyone in NZ maybe even our brothers and sisters in the pacific as well with leftovers. But there are laws that prohibit any of it being handed out to the people. Ever wondered what happens to ALL expired food at big chain supermarkets? By law they have to destroy it once past expiry. Might not seem like a big deal when you consider it’s already expired, BUT how much of that food, electronics, furniture etc could have been put to use but instead destroyed to keep a few stock and budget numbers in check? Law is not the problem, it’s the idiots that adjust it for selfish interests rather than adjusting it to meet the needs of the people.
We all complain when the government tramples on our rights/privacy/etc.
And yet here’s a bunch of people who are perfectly happy for the government to seize from parents their responsibility to feed their kids.
I work with a church who helps provide breakfast for kids at our local primary school. But we’ve found that most of those who partake of the breakfast provided have already had a breakfast at home before they arrive.
It doesn’t really help those few families who are actually in desperate need; kids from those families rarely make it to school.
I’d be interested to know how many of the commenters here have personally gotten alongside needy families in their communities to see how they can help – it’s a much deeper issue than simply throwing money/food at the problem and thinking you’re actually achieving something.
That’s a point , maybe those kids would go to school if they knew there was food for them. And I do know about needy families.
Oh Dan how can you seize the right from parents when for whatever reason they have already abdicated their responsibilities. I’ts called stepping in and showing some compassion for the children that are in need.
And easing the child’s suffering by feeding them is “actually achieving something” educate the parents, teach the children survival skills like growing veggies etc as well but if the child is hungry now then feed them now.
this thing reads like a hit list…
Fuck all these people. blow up the government. kill them all!
Well said granny,next thing these idiots will expect the goverment to supply clothes, shoes, school bags, etc, there is no money tree people.
actually Kelge, kidscan already do supply shoes and wetweather gear
If you cant afford to feed them dont have them. If its to late and you do have children, up grade you budgeting skills.People need to realise there is not an endless supply of cash out there. Keep up the good work John Key.
This is all very well to say to the parents but what do you say to the children that are suffering through no fault of their own. Shame on you and shame on John Key for being so heart less.
I believe that parents are responsible for their children too, however if parents are not taking care of their children, for whatever reason then the community should step in, and those in government are supposedly leaders of our communities. Blaming and intellectualising is not going to put food in a hungry child’s stomach…that child is hungry today, not tomorrow, not after you have educated his parents…NOW! If a child in need is not supported by his community….in a few years we will have an adult with social issues. That is not a possibility, it’s a probability….and what shall be the cost of those issues?
I sent this:- “You voted so that children in need will not be fed. I urge you to think about a child going hungry while you eat your lunch and we pay for it…and it probably costs ten times more than a child’s lunch would.”
Hey guys, thanks so much for getting in behind this – I hope you’re all emailing these MPs regularly to tell them what an appalling move they’ve made.
Thanks for noticing the Simon O’Connor address, I’ve fixed it now. Goddamn names with apostrophes.
Love your work.
Dave (from the Ruminator)(aka Lord Sutch)
Also, I just added a link to the original post that enables you to email all of the MPs at once! Technology! Yay!
http://ruminator.co.nz/here-is-the-list-of-mps-who-voted-to-not-give-children-food-here-is-how-to-contact-them/
FREE MEALS EVERY DAY – thats what we as New Zealand Tax Payers give every National Party MP every day – FREE MEALS – their payback response – NO! – to meals for kids
Growing up I experienced first hand what it is like to go without food on an ongoing daily basis.
I grew up with 6 siblings and a solo mother who was an alcoholic, she was a slave to her addiction, we were victims of our circumstances, who’s fault it was, was irrelevant to us, we only knew that we were hungry and there was no food.
we went to school without breakfast or lunch and often no dinner when we got home.
We survived by eating out of rubbish bins and I can remember stealing kids lunches out of their bags, I was terrified of being caught and shamed in front of everyone.
With all of that going on how could we be expected to concentrate on schoolwork! I wish someone had passed a bill back then to feed the hungry children.
I am now a single mother who works in full time employment as well as juggling a busy household with 4 children and several grandchildren.
There is little time or money to spare but not only do I make sure my own children are fed, I have also fed a lot of hungry neighborhood children over the years when I have seen the need.
My daughter has worked as a teacher aid in a low decile school and saw many children without lunch On a daily basis.
Are their parents being irresponsible? maybe but until you know their situation don’t judge!
Is it the children’s fault? If course not! So don’t punish them for the situation they are in.
I totally agree with the Garden to Table scheme and Kickstart is great but in the meantime there are still hungry children that are going without lunch and this is affecting their ability to do their schoolwork.
teach the children skills to survive but for goodness sake, feed them while they learn.
There are parents that are being irresponsible, that is a separate issue and must be dealt with as such, in the meantime while people are wagging their fingers, the children are going hungry.
The Government has turned their backs on these vulnerable children because they say they don’t want to send the wrong message to the parents, this is ignorance at it’s worst! and for all those that support this I can only think that they have absolutely no idea what it is like to be hungry and not know when or where your next meal is going to be.
I’ts not a complex problem and the solution is not that difficult…cut back on some of your fancy dining (the Government) and use the money to feed the children in low decile schools!
Anyone who votes not to feed hungry children should lose their seat. I mean really. The fact that the number of children in need is low is a GOOD thing…so feed them!
We have reached a point in the world where it is mainly sociopaths running for political office. How many of the MPs on that list are sociopaths or are another kind of psychopath? Identify them and remove them from office or they will ruin your world. I live in the US and believe me, I know. Our whole country is run by sociopaths and their greed and cruelty knows no bounds.
Hey Baruch
Sadly our Prime Minister LOVES America. He has himself stated that. He has (I believe) at least two homes there. As long as he remains in power (and of course this Neo-Liberal government)we will know only greed and cruelty too.
🙁
chur and you see maori names there too as well as old familiar names….Wtf… Thats the prophecy of Money is Evil… Look how our people in office have turned their backs on what is Right!! Cmon peoples take your wairua back and get back to the basic..So we can live under the protection of Io..and oust that serpent Satan who is destroying the world with Greed and War..
The National Party don’t care about Children or poor NZers in general,or NZers at all come to that. They do however care about Foreign Banks,Foreign Corporations, America,Their Pay Rise 20plus%,Brand Key,protecting ID of sexual abusers (4 sitting M.P.s have name suppression for sexually abusing. Mike Saban has name suppression now!!!),new immigrants,farmers,the wealthy,Bank Of America that we owe BILLIONS of $ (Mr Key has massive shares in Bank Of America!!!)Warner Bros,Wall Street,Skycity Casino,Spy Agencies(domestic and Foreign),Etc Etc Etc. The Key Govt are Political Sluts who will change the Law for $. Remember the Law changes for Skycity and Warner Bros Etc. They voted to help everyone else but not FEDD NZ CHILDREN claiming there is NO POVERTY HERE THAT IN THE WORDS OF JOHN KEY “ITS A PARENTING ISSUE.” Im ashamed of our Government who to me are hearttless monsters.
But wait – John Keys somehow knew on where to find $26 million to change the NZ flag?
Conservatives will always look after themselves or those who they network with to ensure their wealth.
Can’t believe this is going on in NZ when in Britain, this doesn’t. To the MPs who voted against this bill, what a lack of humanity you have.
John Key…..you grew up in a State house with a solo mother (so I believe).
Tell me this, why do you not care about poverty, hunger, and homelessness now after OUR Welfare system looked after you and your mother so well, probably made it possible for you to at least begin to ‘get on in life’?
Why do you not think that feeding hungry Kiwi children is a great thing to pass a law for. There is no point in them attending school when hungry as they simply will not be ABLE to learn. Why don’t you care about these things?
Never trust a Right Winger – ever!
These have absolutely no social conscience – they cannot – unable to – not generally in their genetic make up to display a social concern, outside of a conversation about themselves around a private pool gathering.
It should firstly be a parents number one priority to feed their kids if they gonna have kids they should get out there and provide for them parents on the benefit should automatically have a small amount going towards food for their kids they wanna have kids so be it provide for your kids thats just my opinion also it gives some parents a good reason to go and spend it on their habbits ( not all parents ) their are genuine ones out there who need help …. work and income should work with there local schools and parents… thats my opinion anyway
Thanks Anon, there is so much shit going on in my little country NZ at the moment. Corruption and greed by our govt and politicians (especially the pigshit that calls himself our pm John key).So any info you can pull up on him or any other national cabinet member I would be more than happy to share with the rest of my fellow kiwis!!!
What a shame,you all are as an government entity.
you who make the decisions for our future generation,these kids have done nothing wrong by any of you!
Feed them,free lunches!
Shame on all of you!
I bet your kids have lunch everyday.
So while you sit down to dinner,lunch breakfast,cause you can,remember you said no to a simple thing as supplying a free lunch to a child who has no food.
You guys are poor representatives of our great country.
Get your acts together and support the future generation
Hone Harawira was the instigator of this kaupapa and other big issues he was pushing if he got into parliment. However, as I saw it those big parties banned together to keep him out. Why? Cause he would of made a big change and they didn’t want that. Low income families stay low, middle income earners are just making ends meet and the rich are just creaming everything.
TAX the rich more.
I am voting for Hone Harawira. Why, cause he is not for greed, grandstanding or selling us out. He stands for the people, mokopuna and works at grassroots level.
He’s had a lot of negative comments from people, however if you really look deeper at the many kaupapa he is standing for he is our best person to put in at election time.
We have good Maaori MPs but they are in these big sell-out parties.
My whakaaro…..