David Seymour: Heather du Plessis-Allan grills the Deputy Prime Minister on the school lunch debacle

Accusations of mouldy school lunches from Haeata Community Campus has caused much back and forth between principal Peggy Burrows and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour as blame is passed around. 

In an effort to get to the bottom of who is telling the truth Heather du Plessis-Allan grilled Seymour about the facts of the situation.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right to the controversy over the moldy food at the
school in christ Church. It seems the principle of the
school is correct that she was not left with a
box of food on Thursday last week which then went
moldy over the weekend and was served to kids on Monday.
She's provided us with CCTV photos proving eight boxes came
in on Thursday morning and weirdly nine left on Thursday afternoon,
which means officials have been proven wrong, or at least

(00:22):
the people at the school lunch collective have been proven wrong.
David Seymore was the Associate Education Minister in charge of
this and with us. Hello David, hey Heaver. Okay, so
what's the story now.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well, the story is evolving and I'm sure you can
assemble it. You've got a principal who has made a
set of claims, You've got a compass provider which has
made a set of claims, and you've got government investigator
which has gone and issued what they believe has occurred,
which is that some meals were left over the weekend,

(00:57):
not refrigerated, accidentally reissue to children and that is the
cause of the problem.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Okay, can we get the records. We've been asking your
office all afternoon for the records to prove that, as
we were told, nine boxes went in on Thursday and
night came out.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well again, we've never made that claim. Compass made that claim.
What we have done is shown people what's in the
public domain, both from the principal and from the government department,
and we've said, look, on the basis of what everybody
can see, it appears that the source of the problem

(01:33):
originated at the school and the Food Safety New Zealand
agency have issued a new statement reaffirming their story and
their findings, which is bolstered by the fact that regardless
of how many boxes came and went in that entire controversy,
actually you know that it seems there's a common practice

(01:55):
that some boxes and some meals were always kept back
at the school, and Food Safety in New Zealand have
offered their services to help the school and the process.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I'll tell you what the problem is. Look, I know
I would like to believe that the version that you
are telling us, and that the school lunch collective is
telling us, and that the officials are telling us is correct,
except when the officials are pressed to actually provide the
evidence to support their claims. They don't even want to
pack up the phone, which and get Peggy. Peggy Burrows
the principle here has been able to back up her claims,

(02:26):
which means at this point she looks more credible, doesn't she.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, you could take that view, but I think that
the evidence that the people at Food Safety in New
Zealand have provided is based on discussions with teachers at
the school.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
But they've provided no evidence. That's the problem, David. They
are just expecting us to take them at their word.
And if there's one thing we learned from COVID is
you do not take officials at their word.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I can appreciate that. Nonetheless, there's a common practice
of leaving meals at the school and leaving boxes at
the school. You've had a bunch of provide the evidence,
give us the evidence of that. Well again, you know,
you can go and say that everybody's lying, or you
can listen to what they're telling them.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
There, no, no, But here's the thing. You guys are
telling conflicting stories. She's been able to provide the evidence.
Can your side provide any evidence of what you're saying?

Speaker 2 (03:21):
No, what I'm saying is that they have gone to
the school. I've interviewed people and they have said that,
according to reports from teachers, there is a widespread practice
of keeping some boxes and some meals. That appears to
have happened. And if you doubt that that's happened, then
you'd have to ask yourself how it's possible that fifteen

(03:42):
other schools that got exactly the same meals from exactly
the same place on exactly the same day didn't actually
have a problem. Now, what's interesting about what you've just said, Heather,
is you seem to be putting more store in how
much effort goes into communicating with the media.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Right, no, no, no, no, you would come on, come on, David,
don't be a dick. Would don't be a dick. You're
being a dick because what you're doing is you're making
this a story about No come on, man, you are
making this a story about how about mego about media ego.
It is not about media ego. It is about the
fact that you got it, so he said. She said,
And at the end, the only way that you can

(04:20):
listen hear me out, the only way that you can
determine what is true is if the people cough up
the primary evidence she has. You haven't. I would like
to believe your story because I can see the inconsistencies
and I can see the possibilities that this is a problem.
Can you answer me one question about the food, right,
is the same food served on Thursday that is served
on Monday?

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well as I understand it. Yes, Next point, Heather, just
if you really come back, come back from come back
from calling me names, just for a second, and I
just make the point I make is that the proper
way to address this would have actually been not for
the principle to have gone off and talked to a
whole lot of media. I mean, she's done so many interviews.
She was doing one morning chat to cut short so

(05:01):
she could go and do another media interview. It would
have been to say child safety is number one, child
education as number two.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
David. I don't disagree with you. I don't disagree with you,
but it's quite clear she's playing politics, and so are you,
and David, listen for the future. If you're going to
come on here and you do this every single time,
if you're going to come on here and need me
like you do in your in your look, with your
little snarky comments you can expect to be called to
dick and be called out for it. Okay, off we go,
Thank you very much, David Seymour, Deputy Prime Minister, Lord,

(05:30):
I just called the Deputy Prime Minister a dick and
Associate Education Minister. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
Listen live to news talks.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
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