PM Luxon breaches the cabinet manual
Exploring Christopher Luxon's controversial response to the school lunch debacle and his approach to ministerial standards.
In the wake of school children in Murchison being given school lunches coated in melted plastic, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said parents who were dissatisfied should “make a marmite sandwich and put an apple in a bag”.
Luxon’s response is callous and demonstrates an inability to take responsibility. I mean, who cares if ‘the poors’ have to eat melted plastic for lunch?
His comments will also strengthen the impression that Luxon’s government aims to run down the school lunches programme, so they have an excuse to scrap it.
Four food safety investigations are currently underway into the school lunch scheme, including one by the Ministry of Primary Industries.
By endorsing a particular product, Marmite, Luxon also breached the cabinet manual.
Endorsement of products, services, or organisations
2.106 No Minister should endorse in any media any product or service. Ministers may, however, appear in party political advertisements, or in non-political advertisements or announcements in the public interest (promoting, for example, water safety), where no fee would be expected or accepted.
2.107 When accepting an invitation to speak or appear at an event, a Minister should inform the organisation that it may not publicise the event, or use any photos taken of the Minister at the event, in any way that could be perceived as an endorsement of the organisation, its products, or its services.
2.108 In speeches, statements, or videos (including social media posts), it is appropriate for a Minister to make positive statements about the objectives and achievements of an organisation or business. It is not appropriate for a Minister to explicitly promote the organisation, or its products or services.
Remember when Green MP Marama Davidson got in trouble as a junior minister for appearing to endorse a commercial product, namely Whittaker’s chocolate bars?
Now we have a Prime Minister doing the same thing.
Prior to being sworn in as Prime Minister on 27 November 2023, Luxon had no ministerial experience. As Prime Minister he is meant to lead the cabinet.
Once again, Luxon’s inexperience is showing. It could also be a reason why his coalition partners appear to be having a disproportionate influence on the government. David Seymour of ACT and Winston Peters of NZ First have more experience, and it looks like they can run rings around Luxon.
Both Peters and Seymour serve as ministers ‘at the pleasure’ of the Prime Minister, but Luxon has been very lax when it comes to enforcing ministerial standards on the behaviour of his coalition partners.
The Minister of Education, Erica Stanford called her associate minister, Seymour, into a “please explain” meeting following the ongoing problems with the school lunch programme he is responsible for.
He missed the meeting. Perhaps former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was onto something when she muttered under her breath “He’s such an arrogant prick”, following a question in the house from Seymour.
Seymour asked Ardern if she could give an example of her making a mistake, apologising for it properly, and fixing it’.
Seymour should now be asking the same question of himself.
This morning Luxon reiterated his confidence in Seymour as associate Education Minister: “Yes, there are challenges where some of the food is not up to scratch, but David's working his way through the issues, and I trust him to fix it,” Luxon said.
To make matters worse, Luxon endorsed Marmite, a Sanitarium product, at the same time his government is looking to change the tax law so “charities” like Sanitarium actually pay tax on their profits. Perhaps Luxon sees Marmite as morally worthy because the product is made by fellow Christians who seek to avoid paying tax?
While Sanitarium support the KickStart Breakfast programme in schools, this should not provide an excuse for not paying tax.
Luxon’s comments speak to his priorities.
Perhaps one priority for Christopher Luxon should be reading the cabinet manual. I mean, how can he enforce standards of behaviour on other ministers when he breaches the cabinet manual himself?
Update: To clarify - Luxon appearing to endorse Marmite is a problem because, like Whittikers, it is a trademarked name - and as such ‘Marmite’ can only refer to one product made by a specific company. Perhaps not a deliberate endorsement, but it is still a breach of the cabinet manual. If Luxon had referred to jam sandwiches it would not have been a problem, but if he had referred to Craigs jam sandwiches it would be. To my mind, Davidson’s apparent breach of the cabinet manual was less serious as it could be argued her aim was to promote the Maori language. Luxon’s breach of the cabinet manual is more serious because he is Prime Minister.