School lunches are for kids, not for pigs

The Taxpayers’ Union is reacting to 1News’ footage of unhappy schoolchildren tipping their taxpayer funded lunches into a bin subsequently fed to the school pig at a school in Nuhaka.

Taxpayers’ Union Communications Officer, Alex Emes, called this “a misuse of taxpayer-funded food. It begs the question: If the children were genuinely hungry, would they really be refusing to eat a pasta meal because it was ‘bland’ and provided too often?”

“If flavour truly is the problem, add some salt and pepper. It would be much more affordable for New Zealand taxpayers for the school to invest in some basic condiments than buying all these meals just for unionised teachers to make a show of chucking them to the pigs.”

“Nuhaka school needs to keep a register of those kids throwing away the meals, and reduce their order accordingly. Properly means-testing this programme will ensure those kids in need are still getting the food they need, without taxpayers’ money going straight to the pig trough.”