FREE SCHOOL LUNCHES ARE NOT A SOLUTION TO WIDESPREAD POVERTY

'Yes, we'll be on the news tonight!'

Jacinda Ardern's big idea about 'tackling poverty' has been reduced to free lunches in a small number of schools.

IN A COUNTRY where the level of poverty and inequality has only surged ahead while this Labour-led government continues to pursue neoliberal policies, the announcement today that it is going to trial free lunches in a limited number of schools is pure tokenism. In announcing the policy Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the assembled audience that one in five children go to school hungry as if she was announcing an outbreak of measles that is entirely out of the control of her government.

But the Labour-led Government can't even get it right with a bandaid policy like this because, ironically, its own economic policies prevent it from doing the right thing. The Minister for Education Chris Hipkins told Parliament that his government couldn't afford to roll out the policy for all schools because it couldn't afford it. This is the same government, that under its own self-imposed Budget Responsibility Rules, won't countenance any spending that breaches 20 percent of GDP. As well Finance Minister Grant Robertson, tweeting about how 'none of us want kids to go hungry' is sitting on a $7 billion surplus. If Oliver Twist asked Grant Robertston if 'he could have some more ' the answer would surely be no.

If this Government was really serious about tackling economic distress it would substantially increase benefit levels and do it now. This was the recommendation of its own welfare working group. Its report is now languishing in the bottom drawer of Ardern’s desk.

Of course announcing this policy allowed Ardern to smile beatifically for the cameras while she spent some 'caring and sharing' time with some of the schoolchildren. I imagine it played well on the six o'clock news bulletins. But using the poor as part of a PR campaign to give Ardern's tarnished image a bit of a spruce up is exactly the kind of political cynicism that got her predecessor, John Key, into trouble on occasions.

In stark contrast Jacinda Ardern's announcement as had loyal Labour Party supporters like Martyn Bradbury foaming at the mouth. The Daily Blog editor thinks this cynical and tepid policy is a reason to re-elect Jacinda Ardern and her parliamentary colleagues. Apparently we can just forget about all the other inconvenient stuff. There's still over a year to the general election and Bradbury has already rolled out the 'lesser evil' argument. We can expect more of this kind of drivel in the coming months....