A second bill in a day seeking to address the issue of food in school has been defeated.
The Education (Food in Schools) Amendment Bill as drafted aims to ensure the Crown supports organisations to deliver food to students in schools where a need for food can be identified.
The Bill’s sponsor David Shearer said he drafted the bill after visiting a number of schools where it was clear some children were going hungry. He said he didn’t get the drafting right, but the idea of teaching children about food, how to grow it and other issues had merits and should be explored further.
Some schools were getting it right, but some were not and they needed assistance. Mr Shearer said a select committee could work through the issues.
National MP Jian Yang said he appreciated David Shearer’s intentions, but National would not be supporting the bill as the Government was already doing work to help school’s feed hungry children.
The bill failed to proceed by 60 to 60 with National and ACT opposed.
MPs began debating the first reading of the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill.
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