Macindoe Tim: Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMacindoe Tim: Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 28 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18469. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West): Nobody denies that there is considerable hardship in many communities in our country. Nobody denies that a child who is consistently hungry at school is ill prepared to learn and needs our compassionate help. But the Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill is not the answer to that problem. In fact for those who have just tuned in it is worth pointing out that the implication of this bill would be to force every decile 1 and 2 school in New Zealand to deliver a breakfast and lunch programme for every child. Not only that it is worth pointing out that because of the way our decile system works not every child in New Zealand who attends a decile 1 or 2 school comes from a poor family. The reverse of that of course is that there are many children from poor homes who are not attending decile 1 or 2 schools. So this is a very inefficient and inexact way of trying to deal with the problem.It has been estimated that the cost of this measure would probably be in excess of $100 million per annum. That is significant when you consider what else is being done by this Government and by many generous companies organisations and individuals throughout the land in order to try to tackle the very real problems. As a constituency MP I am always heartened and humbled by those in my electorate in Hamilton West who are in schools and community organisations in my electorate early each morning delivering food in schools programmes and breakfasts in schools. I salute them. I thank them. I know that all the children and their families parents and caregivers also appreciate that. But it is something they have done to meet the needs of children in their community—children whom they know well. It is not blanket compulsion across the decile system that does not take into account any other circumstances.Other speakers on this side of the House have quite rightly pointed out a number of initiatives we have seen introduced in recent times. It was about a year ago that the Prime Minister announced that the Government would supportKickStart Breakfast with $9.5 million in funding over 5 years and that that would be matched bySanitarium and Fonterra. That was an outstanding gesture by those companies and I was proud of that initiative by the Government. More than 1.5 million breakfasts have been served since the expansion of that programme last year. We do not need legislation to launch a Government-funded programme to support the delivery of food or meals at schools unless we are determined to force boards to do something they may be totally unwilling and ill-equipped to do. That is one of those things.Tip Top Bakery has also very generously supported this need in our community with its Nourish Our Kids programme. It works withKidsCan. It consists of an annual donation of 100000 loaves of bread which are delivered weekly to primary and intermediate schoolchildren in decile 1 to 4 schools across the country. This is practical and it enables those who are in receipt of those significant donations within the school communities to ensure that they can identify the children who are in need. It is done in a discreet compassionate and sensitive way. These are just some of the many initiatives that are responding to the need we have in our community.The member’s bill takes a blanket approach and does not take into account what is already being done. It instead imposes huge cost in many instances where it is not justified in order to try to meet the needs of those who do require help. I have sympathy for his concern because like all members of this House I have great sympathy for hungry children—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The time has come for the House to rise.Debate interrupted.