Goodhew Jo: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Goodhew Jo: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1445] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Rangitata) 
: 
 I rise to contribute to the debate on the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill. I do so sure in my own mind after that contribution from the member opposite Annette King that those members on the Opposition benches will not be supporting this bill. I am very very sad to hear that they are totally opposed to this bill—or at least that is what I gained from the member opposite’s contribution. 
I intend to answer some of the questions that were posed to me by constituents during the election campaign. We campaigned on this issue. One of the reasons why this bill is having its first reading here under urgency is that this National Government delivers on its promises. We promised that it would be here and members opposite need to understand that we deliver on our promises. 
We have a slight problem about the implementation of this bill which arises from the fact that after 6 years of talking about the youth justice facility the previous Labour Government did not manage to actually produce or build it. That needs to be done before we can implement the bill. However we promised we would deliver it and I am proud that I will serve on the select committee—where we will hear considered submissions and continued debate—that will receive this bill. We will look at this bill carefully. 
The public of New Zealand have told us that they fear for our young people. They fear for young offenders. They fear that the current system is not supporting those young offenders to not continue down their offending track and that we do not acknowledge the seriousness of the situations of some of the 12 and 13-year-old offenders. There is a need for us to better address ways to do things. The member opposite—Annette King—harped on about how this could prevent offending. She needs to understand that there is recidivist offending happening among young people. Therefore when they have offended we need to put all manner of things around them; for example a residential camp where we increase the length of time they spend in a residential facility rather than simply getting them through the paperwork process and letting them off without anything actually happening. We need to make sure that education is around them and we need to address their alcohol and drug habits or addictions—the things that will cause them to reoffend. 
One of the questions my constituents have asked me is how much this will cost. This does not come cheap. This will cost up to $35 million and it is worth it to keep our young people out of prison where almost twice as much money per year is spent as we usually pay to keep an elderly person in a rest home. It is worth it so we need to get it right. We need to make a real effort. We are heading down the track of new territory and we are improving on what we already have. Other organisations will be involved such as the Ministry of Social Development and Child Youth and Family the Ministry of Justice the New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Defence Force plus all those justice and welfare agencies that will support these people and wrap around the parenting orders to support parents to be good parents and to support their young people. 
I am very supportive of this bill. I look forward to addressing the bill in our select committee and I look forward to hearing from New Zealanders who are as worried about our young people and their offending practices as I am. Thank you.