The forecast for Hone Harawira's Feed the Kids bill doen't look good as it goes through it's first reading in Parliament.
However, Hone Harawira says food will help children thrive in schools, “If children have a good meal, their spirits are high, they're happy, they feel good and are ready to take on the world.”
In essence, Mana's bill will feed all decile one and two students from primary through to secondary school.
Despite having the support of the Labour, Greens, NZ First, Māori Party and Brendan Horan, it seems it won't pass its first reading.
Rino Tirikatene believes, “If this bill doesn’t prevail we've got another bill that's been pulled out of the hat which is pretty much the same.”
Harawira says, “I've asked a couple of the National MPs who say they would like to support it but their leader won't allow that vote.”
Only one vote is needed to pass the first reading, but because of the Government's scheme announced earlier, neither, John Banks or Peter Dunne will support it.
It seems Hone Harawira's bill isn't likely to pass but he says at least more people are calling for this action.