School canteens: PV media comment

An article in today’s Herald-Sun looks at the issue of prices in Victoria’s school canteens. According to the article:

Victorian parents are forking out for the most expensive tuckshop bills in the country, as new data reveals the price of a school canteen lunch in the state is $1.55 higher than the national average.
With the average meal at a Victorian tuckshop costing $8.93 – the equal highest in the nation alongside the ACT – a new survey of 1000 Australian parents found that more than half said it was too expensive to order from their children’s school canteen.

Parents Victoria CEO Gail McHardy is quoted in the article:

“Many school families that are battling cost-of-living pressures are likely to cut the weekly or monthly school lunch order out or down to save dollars,” said Gail McHardy, chief executive of Parents Victoria… Ms McHardy said outsourcing canteen services was a solution for many schools, due to the complications involved in recruiting volunteers.

Gail also made the following points across a number of radio interviews on 3AW and ABC Radio:

• Over Parents Victoria’s 100-year history, the issue of school canteens has come to prominence many times. There have always been challenges with running school canteens. The fundraising potential was realised early on but there has often been a tension between revenue raising and concerns over dental health and obesity, associated with unhealthy eating. This is not to mention the challenge of finding sufficient volunteers to run school canteens, hence the tendency for schools to outsource their canteens. Ten years ago in 2015 we commented on the trend of big food companies moving into the school canteen industry.
• Most families view school lunch orders as a treat and/or a convenience, it all depends on a family’s situation.  Of course with the rising cost of living, expenditure like this is cut back when needed.
• The Department of Education does have a policy on canteens and healthy eating.

Read the Herald-Sun article (subscription only)