Advocate against poverty Hone Harawira is appalled with the Treasury, in light of their advice to Government that a food in schools programme is not needed, and he is not the only advocate going off about it. Metiria Turei along with the Green Party are also challenging the Treasury.
“If you feed the kids, they'll be able to learn.” These are words handed to Hone Harawira by teachers at the Treasury's recent advice, Harawira's 'Feed the Kids' programme for children in schools looks highly unlikely to take flight.
While Harawira is no longer in Parliament to carry on the kaupapa of the Feed the Kids Bill, which is compulsory funding for low decile schools, he still wants his former colleagues to push the bill through and become law.
Metiria Turei, on the other hand, is challenging the Treasury.
“I think the Treasury, if at all, should consider going without proper food for weeks, sleeping in a house that's cold and damp and see how well they do,” says Turei.
When it comes to poverty, Turei urges the Treasury to look beyond the numbers.
“The fact is that government has the resources to make sure our kids are being fed at school through a school lunch fund, the Greens have proposed such a thing,” she explains.
That leaves the Greens in Parliament to continue to fight for a food programme in schools, and Harawira, on the other hand, is set to have a meeting next month with all the MANA branches and discuss how to fund programmes like Feed the Kids.