Ball DarrochDARROCH BALL (NZ First): I move That the Youth Employment Training and Education Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services Committee to consider the bill. If the House wants an opportunity to understand what genuine social investment is it need not look any further than the Youth Employment Training and Education programme or YETE programme—what it offers whom it targets and why the House must vote for it at least to see it through to select committee.At present there are 90000 young people aged between 15 and 24 who are not engaged in education employment or training otherwise known as neets". There is no denying that is a colossal number not least for its rather alarming increase given there were 71000 youth in this position just a year ago. It is a number that is a cost to the public finances to the tune of millions of dollars a year through lost earnings and costs to mental justice and social services. All we are asking is for just a fraction of that cost to be truly invested with some common sense before they become disengaged before they leave school with no skills before they leave with no qualifications and before many of them leave with no hope.Unemployed disengaged youth numbers have never dropped below pre-2008 levels. We are not getting it right. Of the young people who spend a majority of their youth disengaged almost 40 percent end up accessing mental health services more than a third are sentenced to a custodial or community sentence and over 40 percent end up on a benefit for more than 5 years at some stage in their life. If ever there was a cohort of candidates for proper proactive social investment this is it. We are not getting it right for our country and we are not getting it right for our young people. These high numbers of youth in this situation result in high youth unemployment with other various social issues both immediately for them and throughout their futures all of which drains the country's social service resources. People who access a benefit as a teenager make up 70 percent of New Zealand's future welfare liability. We need to act before they become disengaged and before they are reliant on the State.There is a certain number of youth who have little or no direction who struggle to establish goals or to develop formal positive and progressive career pathways. These youth can struggle academically and socially. Within the formal education pathway there is potential for these youth to exhibit antisocial behaviours including truancy disobedience and other anti-establishment traits. The evidence data and research show specifically that the activity rates of teenagers who began their first long-term "neet" spell at 15 16 or 17 were slower to recover. It is a vitally important developmental age bracket 15 to 17. They need another option. With 90000 "neets" whatever is currently happening is simply not working.The Youth Employment Training and Education Bill introduces a voluntary pathway that ensures that they still gain a basic level of literacy and numeracy but that the individual is developed to their potential and prepared for adulthood beyond 18 years of age. This opportunity aims to increase the number of young people entering employment or training by improving their self-discipline self-confidence motivation and initiative within a culture of respect cooperation teamwork and tolerance. Through this bill we wish to demonstrate the value of learning that is not specifically geared towards academic pathways and to address the pressing needs of those youth.New Zealand First is proposing an employer-led full-time employment option through the Ministry of Social Development in partnership with the New Zealand Defence Force. Youth between the ages of 15 and 17 will be able to leave school as they can now and move directly into this programme. At 15 they will still need parental permission to do so as they do now. However this is not just for youth who are still at school. This is for all youth of that age who believe this programme would be the best fit for them targeting those youth currently unemployed and disengaged. The Defence Force currently has a youth development unit that has an existing arrangement with the Ministry of Social Development the Ministry of Education and the Tertiary Education Commission. We intend to use the same purpose and basic structure of the existing Defence Force youth courses to create a larger and expanded social-service full-time employment programme.Currently the Defence Force runs the Limited Service Volunteer or LSV scheme on behalf of Work and Income. It allows 17- to 24-year-olds to attend a residential course in the army environment for 6 weeks. This is a highly successful course targeting those youth who are disengaged from other formal pathways. YETE will expand and fully fund the army's youth development unit where it will run the residential full-time employment programme over 3 years. It will encompass apprentice trades including amongst others automotive building construction and hospitality trades as well as non-apprenticed vocational training including amongst others driver and trailer licences non-apprentice hospitality skills and skills in support services. Life skills training will also be included in areas such as health and safety first aid civics ethos and values and physical training—all within the army environment.Throughout this programme participants will be paid a training wage where they will be expected to pay for their own board and food but have a portion of their wages placed in a savings account as part of their overall pay. Local governments and community organisations will utilise the programme to complete community work which will give these youth a sense of ownership and belonging within their communities. Finally there will be an expectation for graduates to remain in New Zealand and work for 2 or 3 years along with a 12-month post-programme incentive for employers of graduates that will form part of the current existing flexi-wage scheme.The initial costings per individual for this programme are approximately the same cost as for employing a full-time private soldier in the army with obvious huge potential for both fiscal and social cost savings in the future. It makes both social and long-term economic sense. New Zealand First is seeking an initial pilot scheme of a few hundred youth to attend this programme. That means the current infrastructure can handle this level of expansion; it is existing and ready to be used. The infrastructure is there the demand for a programme like this is there and all we need to do is implement it.With this bill there is direct potential to improve the percentage of youth who are unemployed and disengaged. It has been identified that 15- to 17-year-olds who experience a "neet" spell will likely have one again after they are 20 years old. What is needed is proactive investment before they become inactive. These youth will have the ability to become trade experienced whilst being paid and paid work plays an important role in social well-being. For many young people income from paid work has a major effect on their standard of living provides financial independence and allows them to save for the future.Feedback we have received from organisations such as Business New Zealand the Post Primary Teachers' Association careers guidance organisations youth workers and people who have experienced apprenticeship training in the Defence Force has shown the potential benefit of this programme and the need for it to go to a select committee. Many young people and parents I have spoken with have told me that they wish they had a programme like this for their kids or even for themselves.All that New Zealand First is asking for is a chance for this programme's true potential to be discussed dissected and submitted on in a select committee. It will be the first step that needs to be taken if all parties in this House are genuine and even searching for solutions for our youth. This will not solve the entire issue of 90000 disengaged and unemployed youth but it has the potential to save a good number of them from starting the spiral of dependence on the State and a lifetime of problems stemming from the current failure of the system which is simply not letting them get a fair start and not letting them get a fair go.Importantly this is not just another army boot camp. It is based on the working and successful LSV model which has been proven to work and which this Government has identified works for these young people. Essentially all we are wanting is some real investment in expanding the reach of what a programme like this can achieve. This is not just another boot camp; it is an employer-led full-time employment training pathway. It will give those youths an opportunity to start their lives skilled and ready an opportunity that they currently simply and demonstrably do not have. Every party in this House should vote in favour of this bill and in doing so they will be acknowledging that at the very least it is worth the discussion. Thank you.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Before I call Joanne Hayes I am going to—I chose not to interrupt the member under Speakers' ruling 53/4 which is regarding the reading of speeches. I think the member—we are in the third year of this Parliament and therefore the inexperienced-member exemption does not apply. While it is a very important matter and I know that the member cares deeply about it it is not a deeply technical matter. There were not lots of figures or quotes or anything like that in his speech and therefore I just want to warn the member that when he has another shot in an hour's time: please do not read your speech."