Lunch crisis in Northland at odds with PM's stance

Prime Minister John Key

Northland is in "crisis" as 22 per cent of students from schools surveyed turn up without any or very little lunch, according to the Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association.

In one instance, a school reported 90 of the 108 students, or 83 per cent, were in that category. However, Prime Minister John Key stood by his statement last week that a "relatively small" number of students went to school without lunch.

Following Mr Key's statement, principals association president Pat Newman undertook a survey of the issue in Northland.

Of the 41 responding schools, an average of 22 per cent of students turned up without any or little lunch each week .

"The area is in a crisis situation," Mr Newman said. "You can't say it is anything else when you have kids in this situation."

The schools surveyed had a total of 7352 students. Of those, 1092 students needed extra food when they came to school, he said.

Taking into account there were 105 more schools in Northland that did not respond, the total number of students was likely much higher.

"Even if it's 1000 kids it's disgusting," he said. "I was quite astounded."

While some of these students would be fed by organisations like KidsCan, in many cases schools were feeding them out of their own pocket, Mr Newman said.

The feedback he had from principals since the survey was the crisis was not lessening and they were not being listened to.

"Above all was the extreme anger that was being voiced when Mr Key said what he said. It was like [the Government] were saying. 'We don't believe you'." Last month, a bill called Feed the Kids, that sought to feed one and two decile schools, was voted down by National, Act and United Future parties.

In Parliament, Mr Key said he did not believe the issue was as widespread as Green MP Metiria Turei, who sponsored the bill, was purporting it to be.

"I think there will be some children who go to school without lunch, but I think that number is actually relatively small," Mr Key said.

A spokesman told the Northern Advocate Mr Key stood by the statement, despite the results of the Northland survey.

"As the Prime Minister has said, his statements were based on a range of sources including visits to schools and discussions with principals," the spokesman said.

Following the election, Mr Key said tackling child poverty was one of his top priorities. Asked when an announcement on the issue would be made, the spokesman said work was underway and "an announcement will be made in due course".

"This Government has repeatedly said that the best route out of poverty is through work and New Zealanders are benefiting from our growing economy through more jobs - with 80,000 more people finding employment in the past year - as well as rising incomes and more effective support for families."