The Government has removed the reo Māori name from its school lunch programme.
“People need to know what things are. That’s why we’re using an English name that everyone understands,” says Associate Minister David Seymour.
The programme, launched in 2020 as Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches, will now be referred to solely by its English name after ministers agreed to remove the reo Māori title.
A Te Pāti Māori spokesperson calls this a “sad reflection of the current state of political leadership in Aotearoa”.
“We’ve seen this type of politics across the board. Instead of waging against poverty, Luxon’s government is waging a culture war straight from Donald Trump’s playbook,” the spokesperson adds.
The Cabinet minutes state the programme’s primary objective is to mitigate the impact of food insecurity in schools. It also aims to reduce the immediate effects of hunger on learning and its long-term impact on children’s physical and cognitive development.
The documents confirm iwi and hapū remain integral to the programme’s delivery, identified as one of four key delivery models for 2025 and 2026. The papers note the Government aims to strengthen local and regional supply chain resilience, avoiding reliance on a single provider.
Cabinet directed the Ministry of Education to explore future delivery options beyond 2027 with the programme’s governance board and experts, including continued collaboration with iwi and hapū.
The Government is also exploring an “innovation pathway,” which could include mechanisms to expand iwi and hapū delivery models.
These developments come as the Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2026 report found one in three tamariki Māori experience food insecurity, as rising living costs force whānau to choose between essentials such as food and housing.
Salvation Army analysts link the disparity to the ongoing impacts of colonisation and breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and call for solutions grounded in cultural connection and whānau-led approaches.
