Take pressure off families and help kids learn
In a state where mining companies export billions of dollars of our resources every year, no child should be going to school hungry. But in the past year, 36% of Australian households have experienced moderate to severe food insecurity,1 and 22% of Queenslanders experiencing hunger are children, with many kids going to school without breakfast or lunch.2
As the cost of living crisis bites, families are under enormous pressure to put food on the table, and too many kids are missing out.
By making free school meals universal across Queensland state schools, the Greens will take the pressure off families, reduce the stigma and hassle associated with means-testing, and give every Queensland kid an equal shot at learning.
In addition to alleviating cost of living pressures, school meals have been shown to improve kids’ attendance, classroom attention, cognition, academic performance, social skills, nutrition and overall health.3 They’re also a significant preventive action for youth crime, keeping vulnerable kids in school and out of the youth justice system.
The Greens will:
- Establish a universal, free school breakfast and lunch program in every state primary and secondary school in Queensland, investing $480 million per year.
- Create a $1.2 billion capital grants program for school meal infrastructure
- Establish a community garden in every state school in Queensland.
We’ll also take real action to bring down grocery costs, including capping prices on a list of 30 essential grocery items, breaking up the Coles and Woolies duopoly, and increasing competition - read more about our plan for cheaper groceries here.
Our plan for free school meals sits alongside our commitment to triple funding to emergency food programs like food banks, emergency relief and food recovery organisations, to $20 million per year.
Healthy meals for every state school
More than 20% of Queensland children are living in poverty4 - up from 15% in 2009/10.
In 2022, Greens MP for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather launched a trial of free, universal school breakfast programs funded out of his own salary. Since then, Greens representatives all over Brisbane have served 50,000 free meals in schools and the broader community. But while Greens MPs continue to run free meal programs themselves, and some schools partner with organisations like Foodbank to provide limited free meal programs, too many kids are still missing out.
Our plan would mean every child at every State school in Queensland gets the same opportunity to have a nutritious breakfast and lunch each day. All meals would be required to adhere to the Australian Dietary Guidelines outlined by the Australian Government, and schools would be resourced to accommodate dietary and cultural requirements.
Universal, not means-tested
When free meals are only available to kids from low-income families, accessing the program can turn into a visible marker of poverty and embarrassment. By making our free meals program truly universal, kids are on a level playing field. Trials of universal free meals programs have shown they help forge social connections and encourage uptake, as well as allowing more food to be delivered for less by allowing for economies of scale.
New capital grants program
To allow schools to get set up for free breakfasts and lunches, we’ll establish a $1.2 billion capital grants fund to cover the costs of basic infrastructure like fridges, microwaves, freezers, crockery and utensils, as well as expanding kitchen space or eating areas.
Community gardens for schools
The Greens believe schools should operate not just as academic institutions, but hubs for child wellbeing and community resilience.
Community gardens are an opportunity for kids to integrate scientific learning into their everyday lives, learn more about where their food comes from, develop practical skills and contribute to sustainable food production.
Our plan for a universal free school breakfast and lunch program in every state school includes a $12.6 million grant fund to establish community gardens in each school, with support for schools to incorporate fresh garden ingredients in the meals.
The grant fund will allow every state school in Queensland to apply for $2500 annually to establish or maintain their community garden.
How it’s funded
In the last 10 years, mining companies exported $643 billion in resources from Queensland, and paid only 9% in royalties. For this to occur while child poverty is rapidly increasing is unacceptable. The Greens would tax big mining corporations fairly to ensure no kid goes hungry at a Queensland state school.
The total cost of our plan for universal, free, nutritious breakfasts and lunches at every Queensland state school is $3.07 billion over four years, including all salaries, foodstuffs, equipment transportation, capital grants and funding for new school community gardens.
We’d cover this cost through our Fair Share Plan to increase the base rate of mining royalties across all mining to 35%, raising an additional $61 billion in State revenue over four years.
|
($million) |
2025-26 |
2026-27 |
2027-28 |
2028-29 |
Total |
|
Free breakfast and lunch at every state school |
$447.7 |
$458.8 |
$470.3 |
$482.1 |
$1,858.9 |
|
Capital grants for school meal infrastructure |
$300 |
$300 |
$300 |
$300 |
$1,200 |
|
Community garden grants fund |
$3.16 |
$3.16 |
$3.16 |
$3.16 |
$12.64 |
|
Total over 4 years |
$3,071.5 |
Sources:
1 Foodbank
2 Foodbank
3 Alexandra C Manson, Brittany J Johnson, Kylie Smith, Julie Dunbabin, Deana Leahy, Amy Graham, Danielle Gallegos*, Rebecca K Golley* (*co-senior author). Do we need school meals in Australia? A discussion paper. 2022, Flinders University.
4 Save the Children