Petition launched against 'horrible, disgusting and inedible' school lunches

A Māori lawyer has launched a petition calling for the government to cancel Compass Group's school lunch contract, saying the company has repeatedly failed to meet its obligations, leaving tamariki with "horrible, disgusting and inedible" kai.

Tania Waikato, who has more than 20 years' legal experience, launched the petition on 20 March.

"I think like a lot of people who have been experiencing the attacks on Māori and our most vulnerable by the coalition government, we've just had enough," she told RNZ's Midday Report on Tuesday. "I've had enough."

It came only weeks after an investigation was launched by the Ministry for Primary Industries into the School Lunch Collective (coordinated by Compass Group NZ) after they served children lunches with plastic packaging melted into the contents.

Four food safety investigations have been launched since the Collective replaced local providers this year.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour told RNZ the cost of the previous lunch scheme was unsustainable and meal production and delivery were getting better.

From a te ao Māori perspective

Waikato said she was driven to act not only as a lawyer but as a mother.

"My son will never know what it's like to go hungry and have to experience one of these horrible, disgusting and inedible lunches. But I was a poor kid growing up, so I know what it feels like.

"These children - through no fault of their own, are experiencing poverty - they're experiencing hunger, and we have a responsibility as a society."

She said the decision to remove contracts from local providers ignored the fundamental Māori values of manaakitanga and community care.

"In te ao Māori, you are judged by the level of your manaaki for your manuhiri, and your level of manaaki goes through food," she said.

"That is the key difference between the way that this government looks at this. This is just another expense item on their balance sheet to them.

"That's why they cancelled those contracts and said, 'No, no. $3 a lunch is enough. Let's do the cut-price, as cut-price as we can possibly do it.

"Whereas in te ao Māori, [tamariki] are our most vulnerable, most precious taonga, and they deserve the absolute best that we can give them."

Waikato said the government should reinstate contracts with the local providers who were providing school lunch services before 2025.

"We have an abundant society. We have so much kai in Aotearoa, good kai, that should be going to our most vulnerable kids.

"And for our government to sit there and say, 'Nah, it's fine. Just give them pig slop,' It's just not good enough."

Contract breaches and growing concerns

Waikato said a former client, who had previously been a local school lunch provider in Rotorua, lost their contract when Compass took over - leading to job losses and what she called a "dishonourable" transition process.

"Watching the absolute ridiculous results of that decision and what's come out of it - they're not fulfilling the contract that they were given," she said.

"Not only are they not fulfilling it, but what they're delivering is so far below acceptable standards. It's really scandalous that they haven't cancelled it already."

Seymour previously said leveraging private sector expertise for the scheme would serve up taxpayer savings of $130 million a year.

But since its launch, there have been complaints about food quality, plastic in meals, late or non-delivery, and dangerously hot meals.

Waikato said putting stress on a system that was already stressed was "inexcusable", and claimed the government was ignoring the issue because those most affected were "poor kids".

"They don't care if it's affecting our most vulnerable, because in their minds, what are we gonna do about it? What is a bunch of poor kids gonna do about it?"

Petition aims for a million signatures

Waikato said she hoped the petition would send a strong message to the government and force it to take action.

"If we can get as many signatures… and I'm talking hundreds of thousands. Even if we could get it up to a million, that would be amazing.

"[The government] won't listen to people like me just calling them out. People are calling them out left, right and centre, but they will listen to the numbers."

The petition closes on 31 May.

In a statement to RNZ, Seymour said: "At a cost to the country of over $340 million per year, the school lunch programme wasn't sustainable the way it was operating under the Labour government.

"The huge cost of the programme is presumably why Labour had not funded it beyond the end of the last school year.

"What's interesting is that across the thousands of petitions put forward by members of the public on the parliament website, RNZ deems this one newsworthy.

"Here are some things that RNZ could report on instead. Last week, the school lunch collective recorded 99.8 percent on-time delivery and meal production rates have increased considerably. Surplus was an average of 5.7 percent last week, compared to 9 percent recorded under the previous government's programme.

"RNZ might remain fixated on the negatives, but we're focused on the future and making sure the programme delivers."

In a statement to RNZ, a school Lunch Collective spokesperson said it acknowledged there had been challenges throughout term 1.

"Despite these challenges, over 450 schools receive daily lunches from drivers throughout New Zealand, achieving more than 98 percent on-time delivery this week.

"Enhanced menu planning based on school feedback, refined safety protocols, and a renewed focus on reducing food waste have positioned the programme to better serve students' needs in communities across the country."

The spokesperson said these challenges stemmed from unexpected supply constraints and the liquidation of a key partner, Libelle Group Auckland.

"Despite this setback, our teams stepped up to ensure continuity of meals for thousands of students. Our commitment to the program is such that we have now entered into a conditional purchase of Libelle Group, an agreement that secures more than 200 jobs of people employed as part of the school lunch programme."

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