Free and Healthy Kai for Kids

We know that our tamariki deserve free, nutritious school lunches that are made in the community and delivered with care. That’s why the Greens in government would:

Restore the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, with lunches provided through schools or local providers;

Expand the programme to approximately 400 more schools, ensuring 150,000 more children enjoy a nutritious lunch every day; and

Fund the programme permanently

Sign our petition today to show your support.

We know that our tamariki learn better when they are well fed. Every child across Aotearoa deserves healthy, delicious, locally prepared kai that helps them thrive — the Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunches programme was delivering that in communities across Aotearoa before Luxon and Seymour trashed it.

School lunches are about more than food. They are about investing in our children’s futures, as well as creating local jobs and supporting local food producers.

This term, Luxon’s Government slashed funding for school lunches and removed contracts from local providers to hand them over to two big companies.

This cost New Zealanders hundreds of local jobs, left half of meals failing minimum nutritional standards, and increased food waste. The cut-price programme does not even have secure funding beyond 2028.

At a time when more whānau are struggling to afford the basics and 1 in 5 children are living in households that “sometimes or often” run out food, we cannot afford to let this Coalition Government’s failure to meet the needs of our tamariki decide their future.

That’s why the Greens in government would:

Restore the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme, with lunches provided through schools or local providers to meet the needs of their students;
Expand the programme to approximately 400 more schools, ensuring 150,000 more children enjoy a nutritious lunch every day; and
Fund the programme permanently to provide certainty for schools, whānau and local providers.

The Green Party has a plan to provide free and nutritious school lunches to tamariki across Aotearoa. Sign our petition today to show your support.

805 signatures