Not happy with school lunches? Make a Marmite sandwich - PM

Tuesday, 4 March 2025

PM Christopher Luxon said parents unhappy with the school lunch programme could send their children to school with a Marmite sandwich and an apple.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the comment showed the true agenda was to run down the school lunches programme to justify cutting it.

David Seymour said issues with the programme were being overcome. An incident at a school on Friday where plastic trays had melted into the food was ‘a major failure’.

The Prime Minister is trying to run down the school lunch programme to justify cutting it with his “make a Marmite sandwich” line, Labour says.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this morning suggested parents dissatisfied with school lunches should 'make a Marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag.'

Meanwhile, Education Minister Erica Stanford has asked David Seymour for reassurance and an explanation about his changes to the free school lunches programme, as more schools raise concern about what’s being delivered.

The Principals’ Federation said Luxon’s Marmite sandwich comment was “disgraceful”, and showed he was “out of touch with current inequities that did not exist when he was at school”.

Luxon was speaking on Newstalk ZB on Tuesday, during which he acknowledged that some of the school lunches and some of the deliveries weren’t meeting the standard.

'The bottom line is, look, some of the lunches aren't up to scratch,' he said, but added Associate Education Minister David Seymour was 'all over the detail'.

'I have got every confidence he's going to get it sorted, and so he's right to actually keep chasing those issues down and making sure we're getting what we're contracted, and the quality of the product, as well as obviously the on-time delivery of it,' Luxon said.

He added that some level of dissatisfaction was inevitable.

'If you really are unhappy with it, for God's sake, go make a Marmite sandwich, and put an apple in a bag, just like you and I had,' he said.

Parents should take responsibility for feeding their children, Luxon said.

'I would rather the state didn't have to do so. It should be a parental responsibility.

'But the fact is that kids are actually coming to school with no lunch. I'm not willing to let them go hungry.'

Hipkins: The PM’s comments shows ‘true agenda’

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Luxon’s comment showed the Government’s plan was to run down the school lunches programme so they could justify cutting it.

Speaking to reporters at Parliament on Tuesday, Hipkins said the Government's decision to 'basically get a large multinational corporation to provide cut-price lunches… has been an unmitigated disaster'.

'I think this has now got to the point where the prime minister needs to take more decisive action to deal with the situation. His lack of leadership has been evident throughout this process,“ Hipkins said.

'His (Luxon's) response this morning, which was simply to say, 'well the lunch programme probably shouldn't exist and parents should just feed their own kids in the first place', shows actually what their true agenda has been here.'

That agenda was to 'run down the school lunches programme so they can justify cutting it', Hipkins said.

But Luxon told reporters at Parliament that he was saying a school lunch programme was needed.

It was not ideal that the state was in the position of providing school lunches, Luxon said, but if parents couldn’t, or wouldn’t, provide a lunch, he was not having children who were hungry at school and therefore not learning.

NZ Principals’ Federation vice-president Jason Miles said Luxon’s comments were “disgraceful”.

Miles thought Luxon was fed up with the school lunch programme not working as it should, and as Seymour had promised.

The new school lunches programme has worked through 'a few teething issues,' Seymour says.

“He’s (Luxon’s) out of touch with current inequities that didn’t exist when he was at school,” Miles, principal of Kaiapoi North School, said.

A healthy, nutritious, tasty school lunch could be the only substantial meal some children received some days.

He repeated the federation’s call for a return to the school lunch system that operated in 2024.

“The previous system saw local enterprises involved, so the food was fresh, it was delivered on time, there was a variety of different food, they could gauge the receptiveness of each meal with the school, and change the menu when needed,” Miles said.

Murchison Area School principal Andy Ashworth said the meals his school received from provider Libelle were 'appalling', and that children had eaten plastic that had baked into the food.

Seymour said he was taking very seriously an incident at Murchison Area School, where some lunches were overheated and over cooked.

'That was a major failure,' Seymour told Stuff on his way into Parliament on Tuesday morning.

'If you really are unhappy with it, for God's sake, go make a Marmite sandwich, and put an apple in a bag, just like you and I had,' he said.

Asked about Luxon’s Marmite sandwich and an apple comment, Seymour said three-quarters of parents did pack lunches.

The new school lunches programme has worked through 'a few teething issues.'

The lunches were now being delivered '100% on time', Seymour said.

'Just as we were able to overcome the on-time delivery issue, we will overcome the issue around the complaints on quality.'

'Getting children to go to school each day is the most important thing we can do for our country's long term future.'

Stuff has been reporting extensively on school lunch issues, including a report on Monday that children tucking into their school lunches discovered they were eating plastic.