The future of the Ka Ora | Ka Ako school lunch programme looks to be uncertain with Budget 2025 failing to provide any funding beyond 2026.
"The Government's refusal to commit to funding the school lunch programme leaves thousands of families unsure whether their kids will be fed or forgotten," says the Green Party's spokesperson for Education, Lawrence Xu-Nan.
"Our children deserve better. They deserve kai that nourishes them, setting them up to achieve their full potential. The Government could have used today's Budget to commit to feeding our kids good food, instead, it has left our most vulnerable tamariki wondering whether they will have lunch at school past next year.
"The writing has been on the wall for months. 'Seymour's slop' was always funded to fail. All of this looks to be a prelude to the programme being cut completely.
"Expecting children to focus and succeed in school with empty stomachs is not just unrealistic, it's inhumane.
"Failing to fund this programme beyond next year shows exactly where this Government's priorities lie-and it's not with our children's wellbeing.
"As the Green Party showed last week, this is not inevitable. Our plan lays out real solutions, including expanding free school lunches, as a baseline funding, to more than 150,000 additional children every day.
"We want all tamariki in Aotearoa to thrive and have a sense of belonging in schools.
"That means no child should go to school hungry. Full stop, end of story," says Lawrence Xu-Nan.
