I’m Proud To Be A Shoplifter – Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association
Comments by David Seymour comparing school principals providing leftover lunches to “shoplifters” have sparked outrage, with educators in Te Tai Tokerau pushing back against what they see as an attack on compassion and community support.
Why David Seymour’s “shoplifter” comment sparked outrage
Seymour refers to principals who give spare lunches to those in need in their communities, as akin to being “shoplifters!”
Te Tai Tokerau principals respond to Seymour
Pat Newman, Te Tai Tokerau Principals Spokesperson, in response says Seymour should be more worried about his inability to do anything effective to help our whanaus in these situations.
All these inane attacks do is show he is either bereft of ideas or worse still, doesn’t actually care!
“What evidence does this person, living it up in the Beehive, has, for instance, that proves there has ever been an actual health incident from giving those who need them, leftover lunches?”
The reality facing whānau and schools in New Zealand
Mr Seymour just might be better off looking at the effect of the policies he and his mates have imposed on New Zealand, policies that make increasing numbers dependent upon getting such a basic need as food, from schools.
A wider debate about poverty, policy and responsibility
Newman continued,” This is a person who is costing us the taxpayers millions each year in expenses, flash chauffeured cars, free flights, a subsidised pension for life, salaries, support staff, and so on, yet he is so far removed from the reality of the situation, that he calls principals “shoplifters!”
If I am a shoplifter, does this make Mr Seymour a big time embezzler?
If feeding hungry children is now being framed as wrongdoing, then the real issue isn’t the principals — it’s the politics that created the need in the first place.
