Christchurch MPs have clashed over the Christchurch City Council’s decision to spend $400,000 restoring the Cathedral Square Chalice, while also trading blows over the future of free school lunches.
The Chalice, installed in 2001, is undergoing its first major restoration in 25 years, which includes structural repairs and upgraded contemporary lighting.
Christchurch East MP Reuben Davidson defended the project, saying investment in public spaces was vital.
“I think it does seem like a lot on first glance, but when you look at the fact that it’s restoration for the first time in 25 years, and also that there’s additional and better contemporary lighting being added, I think that… I mean, I wouldn’t want to see this much being spent on it every year, but if it’s another 25 years until we need to spend that kind of money, I think it’s good for us to have some good public art, and it’s good to have something in the Square restored and looking good,” Davidson said.
But Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey said the timing of the project was out of touch.
“I’m quite surprised. I think it’s bordering on a bit tone deaf, considering the Christchurch City Council is struggling to keep its rates increase less than double figures,” Doocey said.
“I think most people will look at this, and maybe on its own, and I understand Reuben’s point, but they’ll start to look at this like a lightning rod moment to say, ‘Well, if you’re going to spend almost half a million dollars on cleaning up this art sculpture, what else is going on within the budget and what else has been spent on these nice-to-haves?’
“Councils need to get back to basics, and people want to see their rates kept to an absolute minimum, particularly in a cost-of-living crisis. The real concern from ratepayers is if they’re going to fork out half a million for this, what else are they spending on that maybe shouldn’t be spent at this point in time?”
Doocey also raised concerns about how such spending decisions are made, saying, “It should be the councillors that have full oversight of this. Are there unelected people in roles making these decisions? Because that’s the question people are asking.”
Davidson admitted councillors being caught off guard by the restoration’s cost was problematic.
“I think there is an issue there. Everybody needs to know as a councillor what’s going out the door as far as spend, and you need to be able to make those decisions, particularly in the context of setting rates levels going into the next year,” he said.
The interview then shifted to school lunches, with Davidson delivering a blistering assessment of the current state of the healthy school lunch programme, which he claimed had deteriorated under the new government.
“There are some of the foulest, least care-assembled food I have ever seen,” Davidson said.
“Children are not eating them. They are an enormous waste of resource and money. Instead of children having a healthy school lunch that they can enjoy together at school, it’s food being wasted. It’s money being thrown down the drain, and you’ve got children hungry at the end of lunch going into lessons.”
Davidson said he had seen the difference the previous version of the programme made.
“There were so many examples of this working remarkably well on so many levels in so many schools. I saw it firsthand in Christchurch East, in communities like Shirley, with social enterprises that provided jobs, created a real sense of pride and joy, and ensured children were eating nutritious meals.”
But Doocey rejected the criticism.
“When I hear Reuben speak, it reminds me of that saying — the problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people’s money,” Doocey said.
“It’s quite rich of Reuben to say this government is trying to stop the school lunch programme. There was no funding from the previous government. There was a fiscal cliff left with this programme, and what that meant was there was no ongoing funding.
“This government stepped in to continue the school lunch programme. Not only that, but we stripped out $170 million of wasteful spending — half a billion dollars over three years that can be reprioritised into things like health and education.”
Doocey said personal responsibility needed to be part of the solution. “If the lunches aren’t good enough, parents can actually make the lunches themselves and give them to their kids. We shouldn’t take that personal responsibility away.”
Davidson hit back, saying the comment showed how out of touch the government was. “Suggesting that people make a sandwich and an apple, from someone who talked earlier about the cost-of-living crisis in this very interview — those two things don’t match up.”
“The very reason the school lunch programme was introduced was because parents and families across New Zealand are not in a position to afford to give their kids a healthy school lunch.
“This programme did that. It now doesn’t. Instead, it wastes money on inferior food that nobody wants to eat. You can’t say that’s a good idea, and you can’t defend it, especially if you haven’t been into a school and seen one of these lunches.”
The wide-ranging discussion also touched on Christchurch’s future transport plans, council spending, and whether it was time to consider merging the region’s councils to reduce duplication and costs.
