Campbell Live on ‘Feed the Kids Bill’

Written By: - Date published: 11:24 am, November 5th, 2014 - 14 comments
Categories: activism, child welfare, democratic participation, greens, hone harawira, journalism, Metiria Turei, poverty, tv, winston peters - Tags:

John Campbell has done excellent work on highlighting child poverty.

John-Campbell-1200

Last night he had a segment on Metiria Turei’s “Feed the Kids Bill“.  The first reading of the Bill is scheduled to be debated in the House today (as far as can be predicted at the moment). The full official title of the Bill is the Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill.

The article accompanying the Campbell Live video of the segment says,

This was Hone Harawira’s Bill, but when he lost his seat the Greens picked it up.

It states that the board of a decile 1 or 2 school must provide a free breakfast and lunch to every person enrolled at the school on every day that the school is open for instruction.

But will it pass?

The 60 seats that the National Party holds, United Future leader Peter Dunne, and ACT’s David Seymour all look set to vote against it – meaning there will 62 votes for ‘no’.

John Campbell was surprised to see that NZ First would be voting for the Bill. Winston Peters says that there was food provided in schools when he was a boy, and there’s still a need for it.  He says that the cost for the provision would be,

less than half the salary of the head of the ANZ Bank

Campbell interviewed Metiria Turei last night.  In the interview (linked above) she says that people’s responses to Campbell Live’s coverage of the issue, showed Campbell Live and its viewers were committed to doing something to make sure children were not going hungry.  She says this Bill is the political response to that commitment by New Zealanders.

metiria turei

The main message from the Campbell Live segment is that we really need the Bill to pass this reading, so that the Bill will go to the Select Committee.  This will result in the issue being examined pretty thoroughly.  It will provide an opportunity for Kiwis to have a say, and for solutions to be put on the table and discussed.

Why would John Key, National Patry MPs, and their two fellow travellers oppose the passing of the Bill to select committee?  It’s far more useful and helpful to the well being of all of us, than spending $26 million on a couple of referendums on the NZ flag.

Thank you Metiria for picking up the Bill. A big thank you to Campbell Live.

And a big cheer for Hone Harawira for putting this Bill forward.

hone harawira speaking

This is what a caring community does.  Whatever our differences, we can work together on a practical issue for the good of the least well off and the least powerful.  It is only a small part of the solution to a very deep problem. But ultimately working together on such issues benefits us all.

Update:  Key’s war propaganda of fear, exaggeration and diversion does need to be debated.  However, it means it is given priority to feeding the kids.

Key has chosen “terrorism” and the flag issue to foreground, rather than the well being of ordinary Kiwis and their children.

Tweet from Metiria Turei:

The Feed the Kids bill won’t come up tonight because of the 2 hour debate on Keys war statement. We have a few more weeks.

 

 

14 comments on “Campbell Live on ‘Feed the Kids Bill’ ”

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  1. Bob 1
    5 November 2014 at 12:10 pm

    “John Campbell has done excellent work on highlighting child poverty”, really?
    He put up a graphic showing National were against the bill, then Metiria’s first statement was to say National had not stated their position on the bill, so John Campbell was just making shit up…this is excellent work?

    I thought Metiria was brilliant last night though, she keep saying she was wanting to work with the Government on this bill to find a solution that would suit everyone. No sitting there saying “John Key is the devil” like we seem to hear from every Labour release, instead she put forward a very strong case and suggested that she was willing to make changes to get National on side to pass the bill.
    I think whoever wins the Labour leadership should watch and listen to Metiria and learn how to engage with the general public.

    • karol 1.1
      5 November 2014 at 12:30 pm

      My statement about Campbell’s work on poverty was about all the past coverage of the issue. Yes, it hasn’t been perfect. But, within the format of a post news current affairs show, aimed at a general audience, it has done a lot to raise the public interest in the issue.

      On the government’s opposition to the Bill: Campbell was going on the government’s response when the Bill started its first reading in May of this year.

      Turei was talking about her recent email to Key, asking him to change his position. She said Key hadn’t yet responded to that email.

      And yes, Turei was very good in last night’s interview.

      Campbell Live is way ahead of most of the mainstream media on this issue, and in the interview Turei acknowledged that.

  2. Zolan 2
    5 November 2014 at 4:15 pm

    Does Dunne stand for anything anymore? Post-election, at this stage of his career, just maybe he’ll see the light.

    I haven’t seen the wider TV coverage, but that interview was pretty upbeat about public awareness and support.

  3. The Gormless fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 3
    5 November 2014 at 7:18 pm

    None of those kids in the photo looks short of a feed.

  4. Murray Rawshark 4
    6 November 2014 at 3:17 am

    Metiria Turei has adopted Hone Harawira’s school food bill. Some people see a problem and do what they can to fix it. Others see a problem and immediately look for someone to blame.

    Well, I’m ashamed that so many Kiwis are such horrible people, but that’s what John Key relies on – non-achievers who need to feel superior to someone. They puff up their hollow little chests, make stupid pronouncements on shit they know nothing about, and lick their boss’s boots clean. They are pathetic and luckily there were fewer of them in the past, because if they’d been the majority we wouldn’t even have a health system. They’re the same sort of people that collaborate when a country is invaded, because they worship the rich and powerful. They think they personally win when the All Blacks score a try, but don’t realise they lose when a child is not fed. Pathetic small people.

    • Molly 4.1
      6 November 2014 at 8:53 am

      Your comment has hit on the low underlying despondency I have been feeling since Sept 20th.

      I need to out and about a bit more with the people I know that are not that way.

      • Murray Rawshark 4.1.1
        6 November 2014 at 6:44 pm

        I didn’t mean to depress anyone. There are still heaps of good people about, but theirs is not the hegemonic voice at the moment. We will turn the tide.

  5. Dont worry. Be happy 5
    6 November 2014 at 9:18 am

    Great example of this mean, petty, greedy attitude on TV 3 News on Halloween. A peevish old git from Remmers was on explaining how he sorts out local (rich) kids from kids who come in from less affluent suburbs….he asks them what school they go to. Then what I wonder…turns the kids away?

  6. Pat O'Dea 6
    6 November 2014 at 11:15 am

    Feed the War, or Feed the Poor?

    The government’s options:

    Prime: Provide the funding for a comprehensive government backed food in schools program, and starve the war.

    Subprime: Provide equal funding for both the war and the poor

    Optimal: Provide zero funding for the war or the poor.

    Suboptimal: Provide the money for a fully New Zealand government backed intevention in Iraq and Syria, and starve the poor.

    What’s the bet that the government plump for the worst possible option?

    (Just like all their other major policy decisions)

    • Pat O'Dea 6.1
      6 November 2014 at 11:32 am

      Going on it’s past response on all the following subjects:

      Deep sea oil,

      Climate Change,

      Housing ,

      Welfare,

      Taxation,

      Political Representation, (coat tailing)

      Sovereignty (TPPA)

      Work Rights

      Spying

      In not one of these policy areas has the government adopted a sensible or even balanced approach.

      Will they break their run for the 100,000 plus children trying to concentrate in class on an empty stomach?

      Or will they let their desire to join the latest round of blood letting in the Middle East cloud their ability for rational judgement?

  7. Aerobubble 7
    6 November 2014 at 3:43 pm

    Feed the children, what? Can’t even get down a two mile tunnel.
    Seriously though, having kitchens in every school, and turning them into national emergency crisis centers…

    • Pat O'Dea 7.1
      6 November 2014 at 5:43 pm

      “…having kitchens in every school, and turning them into national emergency crisis centers.”
      AEROBUBBLE

      A very good point. Communities that are organised to provide meals at schools make resilient communities in times of natural disasters.

      When the power goes off and the food rots in the fridge, and the gas bottle for the barbie and the petrol tank for the car can no longer be refilled. Local school kitchens, (and gardens) and the trained staff to operate them will be invaluable.

      With climate change, more frequent tornadoes and Super Cyclones are predicted to ravage the infrastructure of our society, we need resilience built into local communities.

      This is not a choice people.

      We do it now, or we die trying to do it later.

      Join your community garden, interact with your local school, get involved, lobby your local council to provide resources and a piece of vacant land. Learn how to garden, get to know your neighbours.

      Remember: ‘Resistance is fertile’.

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