THREE KEY FACTS: The Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunches programme was launched by Labour in 2019 and feeds about 235,000 students at schools and kura. Questions over the future of Ka Ora, Ka Ako were raised when Seymour was given ministerial responsibility over the policy. Seymour attacked the programme during the election campaign , describing it as “wasteful” spending.
An announcement last month provided $478 million in funding to keep the scheme going until the end of 2026 , however, there will be some changes to the way it operates. Sir Ian Taylor is the founder and managing director of Animation Research. OPINION I have several friends who say that, although they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the Act Party , they do grudgingly respect David Seymour’s ability to speak his mind.
To say what he thinks. This, of course, can be a double-edged sword, as was evident at a recent education conference I attended, where Seymour’s opening line to the teachers gathered was: “We give more than $20 billion a year for education, for free.” The emphasis on the words “give” and “free” is mine but the idea that this sentence could come out of the mouth of a politician, let alone one who is the Associate Minister of Education, says a lot about what Seymour was actually thinking.
By “we” I assume he meant the Government rather than the taxpayer who funds the $20b, not to mention his salary. As for “giving” the money for “free”, I can only surmise that he .
