Lees-Galloway IainIAIN LEES-GALLOWAY (Labour—Palmerston North): I support the Youth Employment Training and Education Bill at first reading and I believe that we should take it to select committee. One of the great things about our parliamentary process in New Zealand is that an idea that is perhaps not absolutely perfectly formed that perhaps needs the input of officials and needs the input of submitters from outside Parliament where a few things need to be debated and thought through—we can take that idea to a select committee. We can give the public the opportunity to have their say we can hear from officials and we can craft a piece of legislation that does the job that is intended by the author of it and that everybody around the House can support.When listening to the contributions from members opposite who are voting against this legislation they have all said that there is an issue here that we need to address. They have all congratulated Darroch Ball on bringing this bill to the House. They have all said that the number of young people who are not in employment or in work or in training is unacceptable. Some of us have been prepared to admit that it has gone up while the National Party has been in Government. And yet we have members opposite who say that they are not going to vote for this bill which seeks to address that issue because it might do this or the evidence might not be clear over here.For members of a party that has put so much stock into charter schools for which the evidence is very hazy to say that they are not prepared to support this even to select committee just because they are not convinced or they think there might be some unintended consequences—I think that is incredibly disingenuous.The evidence for and against putting young people into military-style programmes is balanced. If you look at the evidence around the world there is some evidence that putting young people through military-style programmes can improve their employment prospects and can improve their educational outcomes and there is some evidence that is not quite so strong. It is quite similar actually to the level of evidence around charter schools which that Government is prepared to support.So let us take the bill to select committee. We do not think this is a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination. But we do think there is an issue here. There are 90000 young people who are not in school not in work and not in some form of training. When we announced our Ready for Work programme which we think is somewhat analogous to this—the idea of getting young people into a guaranteed 6 months' worth of work to get them work-ready—there were only 71000 young people not in work or in school or in training. That number has now gone up to 90000 and it shows absolutely no sign of reversing.So all the things that the National Party members have listed as the reasons not to support this bill actually are not making a difference. So why not take this one to select committee? Why not acknowledge that we do need to try some different options? Why not acknowledge that the public sector—in this case in the form of the Defence Force—might actually have the resources to provide an opportunity for young people to turn things around?What this bill provides for is not a wholesale shift into this programme. It is a pilot programme. It is an opportunity to test out an idea. We can do that at select committee. Even if we pass the legislation we could do that by testing out this idea by actually putting it in place and seeing whether it works.But the Government is not even prepared to go to select committee. Why is that? One because it might actually have to talk about its abject failure to keep young people in school and in work; and two because the arrogance of the Government is such that it cannot stand to see an idea from the Opposition actually have an opportunity to fly—to actually have an opportunity to go to select committee and talk about it.I have not heard one argument from the Government members as to why they are voting against this bill to even go to select committee. I say to the National Government: you are failing 90000 young people which is more than the population of my city of Palmerston North who are not in school not in work and have no hope and no opportunities. They have been written off by Bill English as being pretty damned hopeless". Here is a bill that offers an opportunity for them. Why will you not vote for it?"