John MacDonald: The PM just doesn't get it, does he?

I’m still getting over the Prime Minister saying if people don't like the food provided by the school lunch programme, they should make a marmite sandwich.  

And quite rightly, his comments are being described by the principal of a school in Kaiapoi as “absolutely disgraceful”. And I couldn’t agree more.  

Jason Miles is the principal of Kaiapoi North School and he’s bang on – that talk from the PM was disgraceful.  

And he says it just shows that Christopher Luxon has had a gutsful of the school lunches thing. He says: "He (the PM) is out of touch with the current inequities that didn't exist in his time."  

Jason Miles is saying what we all know – that kids can’t learn when they're hungry because they are easily distracted, and they get restless.   

He says: “A healthy, nutritious, tasty lunch could be the only substantial meal that child gets for the whole day and a marmite sandwich and an apple is probably ok some days, but we want to know we are going to get a consistently, healthy nutritious meal for our children so they can learn."  

And that’s the point here. We can bang on all we like about us going to school when we were kids with just a marmite sandwich - maybe a bit fancy on it some days with a piece of lettuce as well. Or sandwiches with luncheon in them.  

And yes, we did just fine. Just like Christopher Luxon did. But here’s the difference - we went to school in the morning with some breakfast in our belly and we went home at night to an evening meal.  

But that seems to be lost on the Prime Minister. Which is why this principal from Kaiapoi North School is saying today that Christopher Luxon’s appalling comments show just how out of touch he is.  

Last night, this thing came through on my social media feed and it was a video the “How to Dad” guy, Jordan Watson was fronting. It was promoting KidsCan and he was reading letters that teachers had sent-in talking about poverty in their schools.  

One of them talked about two siblings at the school and how each of them only turned up every second day, and the teacher got a bit sick of that and went to have a word with one of them. And the kid explained that they had to share shoes, and it was his turn to wear the shoes that day and that’s why he was at school and his sibling wasn’t.  

That’s the world that people like this Kaiapoi North School principal knows about. And I know the Prime Minister will say he knows about it too, but I don't think he does.  

He’s out of touch.  

Maybe he hasn’t heard what happened at that school in Murchison last week. The lunches arrived and they were so hot that the plastic had melted, and it wasn’t until the kids had been eating for a bit that they realised they'd been eating plastic.  

How can he tell those kids to eat a marmite sandwich if they don't like it?  

No wonder Education Minister Erica Stanford wants and explanation from Associate Minister David Seymour.  

She must have had her head in her hands when she heard the boss banging on about marmite sandwiches on Newstalk ZB yesterday morning and then coming out with the same nonsense in parliament. 

It was disgraceful and shows that, when it comes down to it, the PM has no idea what life is really like for some kids in our country. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Do you know I'm still getting over the Prime Minister's
comments yesterday about the school lunch program. Comments he made
not just on the mic Hosking Breakfast, but he obviously
thought they were so clever that he repeated them in Parliament.
He said, quote, if you don't like the lunches, just

(00:33):
go make a mar mite sandwich. When he was on
with Mike yesterday he added an apple to the menu
as well. So the Prime Minister says to those kids
going to school hungry, stop you winjin and quite rightly,
his comments are being described by the principal of a
school in Kiapour today as quote, absolutely disgraceful and I

(00:56):
couldn't agree more. Jason Miles is the principal saying this today.
He's the principal of Kiapoin North School and he's bang
on that talk from the Prime Minister. It is absolutely
disgraceful and he says that it just shows that the
Prime Minister has had a guts full of the whole thing,
which is along the lines of what Chris Hipkins are

(01:17):
saying today too, and that's what we'll talk to him
about straight after ten. But back to Jason Miles at
Kaiapoy North School. Here's what he's saying about Christoph Luxon's comments.
He says, quote, he is out of touch with the
current iniquities that didn't exist in his time. And Jason
Miles is saying today what we all know that kids

(01:39):
can't learn when they're hungry. He's saying, when they're hungry,
they are easily distracted and they get restless. Imagine trying
to teach a hungry kid again. I'll quote him directly.
He says, a healthy, nutritious, tasty lunch could be the
only substantial meal that child gets for the whole day.

(02:01):
And Amma might sandwich and an apple probably okay somedays,
But we want to know we're going to get a
consistently healthy, nutritious meal for our children so they can learn.
And that's the point here. Eh. We can bang on
all we like about us going to school when we
were kids were just a mar mite sandwich may be

(02:21):
a bit fancy on some days with a piece of
letters as well, Or we can bang on about going
to school with sandwiches, with the old luncheon roll and
the stuff with the little bits of red plastic ground.
And yes, we did have lunches like that and we
did just fine, just like Christopher Luxen did just fine.
But here's the difference. We went to school in the

(02:43):
morning with some breakfast in our belly and we went
home at night to an evening meal. But that seems
to be completely lost on the Prime Minister, which is
why this principle from Kiapoint North School so today Chiapoint
North School. That's why he's saying today that Christopher Luxe's
appalling comments showed just out out of touch. Heres Now,

(03:06):
last night this thing came through on my social media
feed and it was a video that guy you know
that the How Too Dad guy, Jordan Watson's his name,
and he was fronting this video and it was promoting
kids Can. And in the video, he was reading letters
that teachers had sent in talking about poverty in their schools,

(03:27):
and one of them talked about two siblings at the
school and how each of them only turned up every
second day, and the tidally got a bit sick of
this and went to have a word with the one
who was at school, and the kid explained that they
had to share a pair of shoes and it was
his turn to wear the shoes that day. And that's
why he was at school and his sibling wasn't. That's

(03:50):
the world that the people working in schools know about.
And I know the Prime Minister say he knows about
it too, but I don't think he does. He's out
of touch. Maybe he hasn't heard about what happened at
that school of merchants last week. The lunches arrived and
they were so bloom and hot that the plastic had melted.

(04:13):
And it wasn't until the kids had been eating them
for a bit that they realized they'd been eating plastic.
How can someone how can someone be aware of that
and then say, oh, if you don't like it, mak
a marmte sandwich, it's Charles Dickens stuff. And that's been
generous and no wonder. Education and Minister Erica Stanford wanted

(04:34):
David Seymour in her office yesterday to explain what the
hell's going on. Apparently, though that meeting didn't happen because
the caucus schedule didn't allow it. Well, that was the
excuse Seymour was trotting up on the news last night.
But Erica Stanford. She must have had her head in
her hands when she heard the boss banging on about
mar Mite sandwiches on the radio and then coming out

(04:55):
with the same nonsense in Parliament. And the principle of
Kiapoy North School is spot on. Christoph Luxon's comments were
absolutely disgraceful and they do sh that when it comes
down to it, He's got no idea what life is
really like for some kids in our country.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
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