Rodney Hide on Parental Responsibility

ACT leader Rodney Hide weighs into the hungry schoolchildren debate;

The prime responsibility for feeding and caring for children rests - as it should - with parents. Not with the state, and not with schools, businesses or politicians. The people most responsible for feeding kids are Mum and Dad, not John Key or Helen Clark.

And let's put away one piece of nonsense that clouds the issue. A lack of money is not the reason kids go hungry. There is a poverty, but it's a poverty of spirit and care, not a poverty of finance. That's why more welfare won't work. And politicians know it - they increase welfare cheques for votes, not to feed hungry kids.

I eat Pam's Porridge for breakfast. I get a 1.5 kg pack from Pak'n'Save for $3.00. That's enough for 30 breakfasts. That's ten cents a breakfast. I don't believe parents in New Zealand can't afford ten cents a day to give their own children a decent breakfast - it's half the price of one cigarette. The real problem isn't poverty, it's a lack of responsibility on the part of the parents.

Can't argue with that logic.