Alleviating childhood poverty should be something we do as a nation. School lunch programs do a lot for this, as a school lunch may be the only decent meal a child gets all day. If we are to have “equality of opportunity” as the conservatives insist we should (instead of more equal outcomes), then making sure all students are well fed and able to focus in class should be a logical extension of that argument.
zen_wombat on
There are plenty of benefits “A growing number of countries are introducing free school lunch programs to tackle food insecurity, increase the quality of children’s diets and improve student performance.”
CoffeeWorldly4711 on
I was talking to a colleague who’s wife is a teacher in a lower socio economic area. He said she takes in stuff like cornflakes or other food items cause there’s always kids who either haven’t eaten breakfast or haven’t been provided lunch. It shouldn’t be a teachers responsibility to pick up the slack, though he said taking food in isn’t completely altruistic since they tend to be far less feral once they have eaten something
ccoastie on
But libs found money for Chaplin’s in school
bigredbucket on
How does this benefit our billionaires or the mining sector?
F1eshWound on
As long as it’s healthy food sure! And as long as it doesn’t mean kids lose out on play.. The last thing we want is a US-like system where kids spend a whole lunch session in a cafeteria building (instead of getting to go outside), and are fed pizza and chicken nuggets.
Probably the best implementation would be a voluntary packed lunch the kids can grab (eg a nice sandwich, some fruit, healthy muesli bar) to eat during lunch.
ginnygrakie on
I previously worked at a school that had a pretty low socio economic catchment, and a lot of the students were homeless. We got charitable funding to provide freshly cooked breakfast, recess, and lunch. The difference in attendance and concentration was almost unbelievable. A few local shops also said they were experiencing less shoplifting and theft. My current school is pretty throughly middle class, but it’s still pretty common for students to not have lunch, have not eaten breakfast, or both.
iwannabe1two on
I work in schools and it is so alarming how many students come to school without any food. I have students literally begging me for money/food – they play it off as a joke when I say ‘no’ but I know it isn’t. I’m not surprised when it’s these students showing increased amounts of irritability and lack of concentration when it comes to learning.
Yes, these students probably receive government funding through Centrelink benefits but that does not mean they are receiving it themselves. Many parents just don’t care or don’t have the ability to budget/make food.
A school lunch program would be a big investment definitely, but the benefits would be tremendous – less behaviour issues, better achievement standards, healthier citizens, etc.
BroItsJesus on
I’d be happy with a paid option that offers free meals for lower income families. Making lunch is the bane of my day, as a lazy bitch
NorthernSkeptic on
Absolutely. If we can’t prioritise things like this then what are we even doing?
Icy_Hippo on
we have a breakfast program at my kids school, it is for every kid, sometimes that’s the most they eat in day too. If a kid needs lunch it is usually taken out of the breakfast club food, we get food donated each week to it and do food drives.
Lunch would be amazing to be able to offer, it doesn’t need to be hot to, sammies, fruit and yogurt are fine too.
Dentarthurdent73 on
Sounds great, but I don’t trust Australia not to go down the US path here, and just use it as an excuse to funnel government money to companies who provide shit quality food.
According_Bridge_746 on
My kids primary school offered breakfast club for every child. And also fed them during after school care. Dont know why it stops at highschool.
RaeseneAndu on
The government would privatize it and we’d end up with most of the money going to some US companies profit while our kids eat mouldy sawdust.
Voltusfive2 on
Some schools supplement with volunteer breakfast club, sometimes I’ll pack double in my daughters lunch for her friend.
theexteriorposterior on
Sure… but I wonder if parents are so poor they are sending kids to school without food…. what are *they* doing for food? Like, I’m not against it, specifically, but I do wonder if there’s maybe a more holistic solution? Why is *anyone* going hungry in our society?
crumbmodifiedbinder on
This is also a good initiative to introduce children to the diverse food available in the country! Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Lebanese, Sri Lankan, Greek, and Indigenous dishes, to name a few.
kennyPowersNet on
So basically less money will get funnelled to actual education (as we know they won’t increase education spending to accommodate this )with standards dropping further and some company is going to make a motza and ever increasingly take money out of the education budget and public schools will just be glorified child care centres
Potential-Bus5462 on
The current school lunch program involves standing near the canteen line and asking for change.
LittleRedRaidenHood on
Queensland Labor promised free school lunches for every primary school student in the state, something that would’ve actually had a meaningful impact on the problems facing disadvantaged young people.
Queensland LNP instead ran on a platform of throwing young offenders in prison and throwing away the key.
Guess who won?
Can’t blame government when it’s the public who are so fucking evil or stupid that they don’t want their tax dollars going towards feeding hungry children.
CptUnderpants- on
I work for a SAS school. We started providing breakfast, recess and lunch for all students a couple of years ago with significant results. It improved behaviour, learning outcomes, and student health.
Not horrible bulk cheap food either. We have a full time chef.
When considered on a per student basis, it isn’t a big cost but delivers significant returns.
These kinds of programs deliver true equity of outcome. Good nourishing food no matter if you’re from Toorak or Dandenong.
lawless-cactus on
I love what Japan does. Everything is made at the school from scratch – even things like sauces – and sourced as locally as possible to support the local economy. And students are involved with growing the food, or going out to farms and harvesting rice as a part of moral education.
At the beginning of lunch, students take the food to their rooms and serve it up. They share what the food nutritional information is, and some facts about where it’s from or how it’s good for you.
The meals are so filling too. And the menu is published for the whole month. If a student has allergies they have a separate tray that’s labelled.
Homo_Sapien30 on
Many underdeveloped and developing countries have it.
I used to get a healthy snack everyday when I was in school. That’s in Nepal.
Edit: He lost but didn’t lose to a Lobbyist that I’m aware of
supermuncher60 on
Wait we even have this in most states in the US.
You guys don’t have a free lunch/breakfast program for disadvantaged kids?
gpolk on
We tried to introduce this in Queensland. Trials were a great success. The public said fuck you I’m not paying to feed your kids.
AnxietyAnkylosaurus on
I remember way back when there was a big push from parents to make the school Canteens healthy, which ended up closing down our canteen at high school. It sucked I went from being able to buy myself some chips for lunch if I was hungry to I guess I’ll starve because I can’t afford a $9 chicken ceasar wrap.
driftu_king on
If labor had won in QLD we would have this along with much more
Sporty_Nerd_64 on
Queensland had the choice to vote for such a program and instead decided that tax cuts for the multinational mining corporations was more important.
SSAUS on
Steven Miles, former Labor Queensland Premier, literally ran on this as one of his re-election platforms and got raked through the coals by the Queensland propaganda media for it.
njf85 on
My kids thankfully never have to worry about food insecurity, but 100% I’d love to see this. This is the sort of stuff I’d love our tax dollars to go towards
Weissritters on
Given our political climate. What will happen is labor will create such a program and then it’ll be sold for Pennie’s in a dollar to Gina friends by LNP once they get up again
Due-Note-6406 on
If it was tailored by the Japanese model where it had legal requirements to serve non processed foods. The next generation would grow up with a better diet than our generation did. This would naturally lead to individuals choosing better options later in life because the body would naturally crave the healthy food option
Human-Warning-1840 on
I may be naive but is this really an issue? Maybe in some states it is,or in some suburbs it may also be. If it is a student here and there I would prefer that more money is given to families that struggle. That any school uniform is free for them, that they get whatever school supplies they need. For most public schools it would probably a huge issue to implement a canteen for all kids. There are schools with leaks and no aircon or heater.
Michael074 on
the picture looks nice but doesn’t it normally end up being like the worst crappiest food possible. I’ve heard they serve better food in prisons than in school.
I mean lets be real we aren’t capable of doing it well like Japan.
37 Comments
It’s a state thing
Base it off the French one. [It’s incredible](https://grist.org/article/food-2010-10-19-the-french-serve-up-one-helluva-school-lunch/).
Alleviating childhood poverty should be something we do as a nation. School lunch programs do a lot for this, as a school lunch may be the only decent meal a child gets all day. If we are to have “equality of opportunity” as the conservatives insist we should (instead of more equal outcomes), then making sure all students are well fed and able to focus in class should be a logical extension of that argument.
There are plenty of benefits “A growing number of countries are introducing free school lunch programs to tackle food insecurity, increase the quality of children’s diets and improve student performance.”
I was talking to a colleague who’s wife is a teacher in a lower socio economic area. He said she takes in stuff like cornflakes or other food items cause there’s always kids who either haven’t eaten breakfast or haven’t been provided lunch. It shouldn’t be a teachers responsibility to pick up the slack, though he said taking food in isn’t completely altruistic since they tend to be far less feral once they have eaten something
But libs found money for Chaplin’s in school
How does this benefit our billionaires or the mining sector?
As long as it’s healthy food sure! And as long as it doesn’t mean kids lose out on play.. The last thing we want is a US-like system where kids spend a whole lunch session in a cafeteria building (instead of getting to go outside), and are fed pizza and chicken nuggets.
Probably the best implementation would be a voluntary packed lunch the kids can grab (eg a nice sandwich, some fruit, healthy muesli bar) to eat during lunch.
I previously worked at a school that had a pretty low socio economic catchment, and a lot of the students were homeless. We got charitable funding to provide freshly cooked breakfast, recess, and lunch. The difference in attendance and concentration was almost unbelievable. A few local shops also said they were experiencing less shoplifting and theft. My current school is pretty throughly middle class, but it’s still pretty common for students to not have lunch, have not eaten breakfast, or both.
I work in schools and it is so alarming how many students come to school without any food. I have students literally begging me for money/food – they play it off as a joke when I say ‘no’ but I know it isn’t. I’m not surprised when it’s these students showing increased amounts of irritability and lack of concentration when it comes to learning.
Yes, these students probably receive government funding through Centrelink benefits but that does not mean they are receiving it themselves. Many parents just don’t care or don’t have the ability to budget/make food.
A school lunch program would be a big investment definitely, but the benefits would be tremendous – less behaviour issues, better achievement standards, healthier citizens, etc.
I’d be happy with a paid option that offers free meals for lower income families. Making lunch is the bane of my day, as a lazy bitch
Absolutely. If we can’t prioritise things like this then what are we even doing?
we have a breakfast program at my kids school, it is for every kid, sometimes that’s the most they eat in day too. If a kid needs lunch it is usually taken out of the breakfast club food, we get food donated each week to it and do food drives.
Lunch would be amazing to be able to offer, it doesn’t need to be hot to, sammies, fruit and yogurt are fine too.
Sounds great, but I don’t trust Australia not to go down the US path here, and just use it as an excuse to funnel government money to companies who provide shit quality food.
My kids primary school offered breakfast club for every child. And also fed them during after school care. Dont know why it stops at highschool.
The government would privatize it and we’d end up with most of the money going to some US companies profit while our kids eat mouldy sawdust.
Some schools supplement with volunteer breakfast club, sometimes I’ll pack double in my daughters lunch for her friend.
Sure… but I wonder if parents are so poor they are sending kids to school without food…. what are *they* doing for food? Like, I’m not against it, specifically, but I do wonder if there’s maybe a more holistic solution? Why is *anyone* going hungry in our society?
This is also a good initiative to introduce children to the diverse food available in the country! Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Lebanese, Sri Lankan, Greek, and Indigenous dishes, to name a few.
So basically less money will get funnelled to actual education (as we know they won’t increase education spending to accommodate this )with standards dropping further and some company is going to make a motza and ever increasingly take money out of the education budget and public schools will just be glorified child care centres
The current school lunch program involves standing near the canteen line and asking for change.
Queensland Labor promised free school lunches for every primary school student in the state, something that would’ve actually had a meaningful impact on the problems facing disadvantaged young people.
Queensland LNP instead ran on a platform of throwing young offenders in prison and throwing away the key.
Guess who won?
Can’t blame government when it’s the public who are so fucking evil or stupid that they don’t want their tax dollars going towards feeding hungry children.
I work for a SAS school. We started providing breakfast, recess and lunch for all students a couple of years ago with significant results. It improved behaviour, learning outcomes, and student health.
Not horrible bulk cheap food either. We have a full time chef.
When considered on a per student basis, it isn’t a big cost but delivers significant returns.
These kinds of programs deliver true equity of outcome. Good nourishing food no matter if you’re from Toorak or Dandenong.
I love what Japan does. Everything is made at the school from scratch – even things like sauces – and sourced as locally as possible to support the local economy. And students are involved with growing the food, or going out to farms and harvesting rice as a part of moral education.
At the beginning of lunch, students take the food to their rooms and serve it up. They share what the food nutritional information is, and some facts about where it’s from or how it’s good for you.
The meals are so filling too. And the menu is published for the whole month. If a student has allergies they have a separate tray that’s labelled.
Many underdeveloped and developing countries have it.
I used to get a healthy snack everyday when I was in school. That’s in Nepal.
Australian kids don’t get free school lunch?
Max Chandler-Mather did free lunches in his electorate and party promised free lunches: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-14/greens-promise-free-school-lunches-retain-brisbane-seats/105175946
Edit: He lost but didn’t lose to a Lobbyist that I’m aware of
Wait we even have this in most states in the US.
You guys don’t have a free lunch/breakfast program for disadvantaged kids?
We tried to introduce this in Queensland. Trials were a great success. The public said fuck you I’m not paying to feed your kids.
I remember way back when there was a big push from parents to make the school Canteens healthy, which ended up closing down our canteen at high school. It sucked I went from being able to buy myself some chips for lunch if I was hungry to I guess I’ll starve because I can’t afford a $9 chicken ceasar wrap.
If labor had won in QLD we would have this along with much more
Queensland had the choice to vote for such a program and instead decided that tax cuts for the multinational mining corporations was more important.
Steven Miles, former Labor Queensland Premier, literally ran on this as one of his re-election platforms and got raked through the coals by the Queensland propaganda media for it.
My kids thankfully never have to worry about food insecurity, but 100% I’d love to see this. This is the sort of stuff I’d love our tax dollars to go towards
Given our political climate. What will happen is labor will create such a program and then it’ll be sold for Pennie’s in a dollar to Gina friends by LNP once they get up again
If it was tailored by the Japanese model where it had legal requirements to serve non processed foods. The next generation would grow up with a better diet than our generation did. This would naturally lead to individuals choosing better options later in life because the body would naturally crave the healthy food option
I may be naive but is this really an issue? Maybe in some states it is,or in some suburbs it may also be. If it is a student here and there I would prefer that more money is given to families that struggle. That any school uniform is free for them, that they get whatever school supplies they need. For most public schools it would probably a huge issue to implement a canteen for all kids. There are schools with leaks and no aircon or heater.
the picture looks nice but doesn’t it normally end up being like the worst crappiest food possible. I’ve heard they serve better food in prisons than in school.
I mean lets be real we aren’t capable of doing it well like Japan.