Young Jonathan: Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYoung Jonathan: Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 28 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18459. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): I stand to address this bill the Education (Breakfast and Lunch Programmes in Schools) Amendment Bill. The bill seeks to amend the Education Act 1989 to provide fully State-funded breakfast and lunch programmes to all decile 1 and decile 2 schools and other designated schools in New Zealand. The meals would be available free of charge and be required to meet Ministry of Health nutritional guidelines.Even though the member opposite Hone Harawira who presents this bill has got good intentions this Government is hard at work supporting vulnerable children and working with families to ensure that children get a great start in life through early childhood education and right through their schooling years. We do not support this bill because of the work that is currently under way work that in most regards does not need legislation because there are people in our communities who have a strong commitment to the welfare of our society.We have expanded theKickStart Breakfast programme and last year committed $9.5 million over 5 years which the member has acknowledged as one part of ourprogramme to better support children in our schools. Well over 1.5 million breakfasts have now been served. We are making a number of changes across the Government to focus on reducing hardship and its effects on New Zealanders particularly young New Zealanders. We are ensuring that every child gets a great education. It is one of the most important things that we can do as a Government and what we do in this regard raises the standard of living and creates a more productive economy where every child has the opportunity as they go through our educational system to participate in it achieve in it and succeed in life. Our great philosophy and slogan is of course our belief that we want five out of five children to succeed.We do understand that children going to school need to have nutrition in order to be able to concentrate to learn and for their well-being to increase and to grow. TheKickStart Breakfast programme that was started back in 2009 is a partnership in New Zealand and is supported very strongly by some of our strong companies. Fonterra partners withSanitarium and schools right throughout this country that seek to participate can give their kids a breakfast ofWeet-Bix and milk and they can enjoy the start of the day in that regard.This bill forces boards of trustees of decile 1 and decile 2 schools to deliver a breakfast and lunch programme to students. The Secretary for Education would have the discretion as to whether to designate a school that is decile 3 to decile 10 to be part of the programme if the board requests subject to a precondition. To meet the precondition to be a designated school a school would need to be in the decile 3 to decile 10 bracket it would need to have an enrolment scheme and therefore a zone be taking a significant number of out-of-zone students which should not be happening in any zoned school if the zone is set correctly and these out-of-zone children would need to come from the catchments of decile 1 or decile 2 schools. The bill requires the Ministry of Education in conjunction with the Ministry of Health to conduct annual monitoring of the programmes. It also requires a review to be reported to the Minister of Education and Parliament within 3 years.It is not good enough for members of the Opposition to rail against the National Government as speakers did on the previous bill the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Six Months’ Paid Leave) Amendment Bill saying that there is a lack of compassion a lack of commitment and a lack of feeling for the people in our communities. That is not so. I believe that right through this country people resoundingly support the Budget. It is family orientated and seeks to undergird and support the families and the children of our country.Reducing hardship is one of National’s commitments in delivering Better Public Services to New Zealanders. We are making a number of changes across the Government focusing on reducing hardship and its effects on New Zealanders. We would remember the statements of the Minister of Finance about protecting people from the harsh edges of the recession. During all those very difficult years this Government supported New Zealanders. At the expense of every New Zealander this Government took on debt to ensure that vulnerable people in this country were cared for protected and supported.We are investing significantly in supporting New Zealanders off welfare and into work because that is the single most important step households can take to help themselves. A particular focus is on addressing the hardship that vulnerable children face so that they can be set on the pathway to a better future. One of the I believe more significant pieces of legislation that this Government has brought through the House is the Vulnerable Children Bill and the Children’s Action Plan arising from that piece of legislation. It is plain to see in fact that this Government is very committed to the well-being of our communities.TheKickStart Breakfast programme is a fantastic programme and it also incorporates not only the support of the Government but it has a strong degree of corporate social responsibility. Something that we do applaud and we encourage is companies that do succeed in our country being able to contribute to its well-being.Not all poor children attend decile 1 and decile 2 schools. WithKickStart Breakfast expanding to schools of every decile it will actually target more kids in need than this bill will. Ultimately parents are responsible for feeding their children but we cannot ignore the fact that some kids turn up to school hungry and they cannot learn on an empty stomach. That is why this is not just about the Government but includes the community non-governmental organisations and business partners that get out there with breakfast clubs at times every day of the week in our schools to support those kids.We all have a shared responsibility for children. It is not good enough just to put some legislation through. What we want to see is our communities all stepping up and we are seeing that. We have some great examples of organisations stepping in to do their bit to support families. We applaud companies likeSanitarium like Fonterra that step up and give back to Kiwi kids in our communities. Since 2009 Fonterra andSanitarium have been providing as I saidWeet-Bix—that great breakfast sustenance that probably most of us grew up on—and milk. In fact I went to the launch of this programme in Taranaki not long ago.Last yearKickStart Breakfast was expanded to be available 5 days a week in decile 1 to 4 primary schools. Over 730 schools and over 25000 children now participate. Eighty-five percent of decile 1 schools participate in this programme. Since the beginning of 2014 schools of any decile have been able to apply to be part of theKickStart Breakfast programme. More than 1.5 million breakfasts have been served by people in our communities—not just teachers but parents people from NGOs people who care and people who get out there and make a difference.What we also do is we provide fruit in schools. We have a Fruit in Schools scheme available to all decile 1 and 2 primary and intermediate schools resulting in about 97000 students receiving a piece of fruit each day and we fund it with $174 million a year. That is commitment. That is proof I believe that the intent of what this bill is about is being enacted already in our schools and in our communities. We do not need legislation to launch a Government-funded programme to support the delivery of food for schools when it is already happening through community effort through corporate sponsorship and through the work of this Government. Thank you.