Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

On the south side of Brisbane, in my electorate of Griffith, my office has now served—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 10:52 to 11:07

As I was saying, on the south side of Brisbane, in my electorate of Griffith, my officers now serve 9,843 school breakfasts and community dinners, and by next week will have ticked over 10,000 meals. Using the resources of my electorate office, a dedicated paid organiser, a small salary sacrifice on my part and the incredible commitment of a bunch of Greens volunteers, every week in three public schools in my electorate we also have a universal free breakfast for any kids, parents, teachers or any other school staff who want a free brekkie.

If anyone is wondering, last week we served breakfast quesadillas with egg, cheese, spinach and salsa, along with fresh fruit juice. By 2025, the goal is that we'll be running a free breakfast in six schools across the electorate. We have also partnered with the state Greens MP and a local councillor, Amy MacMahon and Trina Massey, to run two free weekly dinners, one for rough sleepers in South Brisbane and the other in Raymond Park for anyone in the community. We're now serving at such a scale that it costs us, on average, 50c per meal. Along with all of this, we also run a free community pantry, which empties out at least once a day.

Of course, this is just a small drop in the ocean compared to the level of poverty and financial stress in this country. What I hope it does demonstrate is that if my office can do it then there's absolutely no reason why the federal and state governments couldn't fund a universal free school breakfast and lunch program in every school. Right now we know that there are over 1.2 million children living in poverty here in Australia, but in countries around the world governments fund universal free school lunches and breakfasts. In fact, seven states in the United States now, including Michigan, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Maine, New Mexico and Vermont, all run free, universal school lunch programs. In Finland, every schoolkid gets a free hot lunch which, for decades, has ensured that no kid in Finland goes to school hungry.

Trials of free school lunches and breakfasts in Australia and around the world have seen enormous improvements in attendance, concentration and grades, and even improved relations between teachers and students and between students. This should hardly be surprising: ask any teacher and they'll tell you that it's hard to teach hungry kids. More broadly, there are enormous benefits in terms of nutrition and physical and mental health and there are cost savings in the long run if we ensure that every kid in this country gets a free school lunch.

What we do know is that is also eminently affordable. When the government is able to find $30 billion a year for the stage 3 tax cuts—that sees every politician in this place get $9,000 extra a year off in their tax—you would think that they could find a few extra billion dollars to do what has been done successfully around the world, including in the United States and Finland, and roll out a universal free lunch program for every public school kid in this country. The benefits would be enormous. There's absolutely no reason why it can't be done. If my office can do it on the smell of an oily rag then the government should easily be able to roll out a program like this. It would fundamentally transform the lives of millions of kids in this country and have enormous flow-on benefits for not just our public education system but broader society as well.

The decision today by the state government to bulldoze the local public East Brisbane State School and not replace that school with any land in the catchment area will deprive two of the fastest-growing suburbs on the south side of Brisbane—East Brisbane and Kangaroo Point, with a population close to 16,000 people—of a public school. There will be no public school in two of the largest and most densely populated suburbs in inner-city Brisbane. It is complete madness.

Why is it happening? Because the federal and state governments, in a $7 billion Olympics infrastructure program, are spending $2 billion to demolish the Gabba stadium and rebuild it for a four-week sporting event. In that process they will bulldoze a local public school and the much-loved Raymond Park. The decision is completely mad, but perhaps the most destructive thing about this decision is that two of the densest suburbs in Brisbane will no longer have a public school. Their solution is to replace it with a school entirely outside the existing catchment.

We already have issues with school overcrowding in Brisbane, and I'm sure across the country. To deprive two of the biggest suburbs in Brisbane of a public school seems to be not only deeply negligent but an abdication of what I argue is one of the most basic responsibilities of any government, which is making sure that people have access to good quality public schools and hospitals.

In this instance hundreds of kids may have to walk up to an hour to reach the new location in Coorparoo. Coorparoo Secondary College is a wonderful school, but it makes absolutely no sense not to have a school in two densely populated inner-city suburbs. We're losing a much-loved public school with enormous history and quality. It's a great shame on both the federal and state governments.

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