Ms BURNET (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, I rise to speak to the motion moved by the member for Braddon, Mrs Beswick, about the importance of all children being supported and cared for in institutional environments. It is fitting to hear this today, given the topics of conversation during Question Time and children being at the core of those concerns.
Specifically, I would like to speak to paragraph (3) of her motion, which recognises standards of excellence for nutrition, in particular, exercise and overall health should be paramount. As the Greens spokesperson for preventative health and wellbeing, I will focus on the very important area of children’s welfare which can make a substantial difference for Tasmanian children – their nutrition at school.
Historically, a school lunch was a packed lunch. In the 1990s, school canteens became part of the school community. The Tasmanian School Canteen Association, now known as School Food Matters, was formed in 1994 to support the operation of school canteens. School Food Matters operate in 273 government and non-government schools, of which 240 have a school canteen or food service, and currently work with 151 of the 240 schools through a canteen accreditation programme.
The School Food Matters strongly supports that need to care for all children. It is not about privilege – it is about caring for all children. Its work is promoting nutritional, tasty and safely prepared food in schools. That has been their mantra for the past 30 years. The School Canteen Accreditation program has been the mainstay of supporting nutritious food at school and over the past three years, School Food Matters has been trialling a sit-down cooked meal in 30 government schools.
Researchers such as Professor Rebecca Golley of Flinders University,[Checked] whose research in a range of settings where children live, eat, learn and play suggests:
A universal school provided lunch model could help to ensure all children have access to food at school, reduce stigma of children not having lunch or having different types of foods to their peers and help to ensure children are provided with healthy lunch options.
There are many benefits to a school lunch program, and they include:
- For setting government policy and direction, it delivers against recommendation No 62 from the Premier’s Economic and Social Recovery Advisory Council (PESRAC), their interim report and PESRAC’s recommendation 31 of the final report. Setting policy is very important and that is what governments and education departments do.
- Food security of Tasmanian primary school-aged children is improved by ensuring that they eat a nutritious lunch each day, rich in vegetables and fruit, and therefore are able to reach their learning potential.
It is a reality that there are many situations where some Tasmanian school students have no understanding of, or exposure to, non-processed food. A high proportion of school lunch boxes are not nutritiously balanced, and are packed with highly processed products pitched at parents and children through the media and at the supermarket. A universal school lunch program provides an opportunity for all children to sit down to a well-balanced, nutritious and tasty meal.
This in turn improves the eating culture of young Tasmanians by normalising sharing nutritious, seasonal food. It improves concentration, mood and behaviour so children are ready to learn. It improves educational outcomes. It improves attendance at school of children in low income communities. Using food that is local and seasonal improves freshness and nutrient density and reduces waste. Every dollar invested returns three to 10 times the economic return from improved health and education among school children and increased productivity when they become working adults – so it does not just invest in the children’s future, but it invests in Tasmania’s future.
Honourable Speaker, not all children are able to access the school canteen, due to economic reasons. The canteen may not be operating every day, and school canteens offer options ranging from very nutritious to not so nutritious foods. As a result, some children will always select the lesser nutritious foods because that is what they are familiar with; hence the trial of the school lunch programme.
We have heard through today’s questions relating to child safety, those children currently in Ashley Youth Detention Centre, the limitations of the effectiveness of child protection with so many vacancies in those professions. We have even heard from the Commissioner for Children and her concerns raised yet again. Children’s welfare for them to thrive and take their place in our society and communities, must occur with all of that as a pathway out of poverty. It must be respected and nurtured, and much of this starts with providing adequate nutrition. I thank the member for her motion.
