PM Luxon breaches the cabinet manual

Exploring Christopher Luxon's controversial response to the school lunch debacle and his approach to ministerial standards.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Associate Minister of Education David Seymour. Photo: Doug Mountain (creative commons licence)

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”¹.

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 Industries².

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?³

Now we have a Prime Minister doing the same thing.