Macindoe Tim: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Macindoe Tim: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:652;Page:1455] 
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I am very pleased to take a call tonight and speak in favour of the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill. 
I am particularly pleased to follow my Waikato colleague Nanaia Mahuta and I thank her for the analysis she has brought of some of the problems that exist in our local area. My electorate falls entirely within the boundaries of her electorate and I respect the contribution she made. I am pleased to follow her contribution so I can acknowledge some of the comments she made about some of the intervention measures such as Te Hurihanga and the Kauri Centre in my city and to acknowledge the very good work that they are doing. But I say to the member that surely she has just explained why the measures we are introducing in this bill are a natural extension of what Labour members offer and that they are designed to put a very compassionate and effective measure around the major problem that we have in our electorate. 
I say to members opposite that they need to reflect on the comments of their own leader immediately after the election. The new Leader of the Opposition told us that Labour would listen to the people and would learn from the experience of its pretty shattering defeat not least because Labour is quite rightly perceived to be very soft on law and order issues. Yet in every debate we have had since the election Labour MPs have reverted to type. They claim to support a tough stance on law and order and they claim to support Phil Goff’s leadership but they argue against every measure that is put up. I find it incredible that every time a measure of this type comes before the House Labour members say they will support it then they speak against it and then they vote for it. They may not be voting for this one but they seem to be taking that approach most of the time. 
I am very proud to be part of a Government that is listening to the electorate. I am very proud to be a member of a Government that is delivering on its election promises because whatever members opposite may think about the issue the public of New Zealand voted for this measure. I am very proud to be part of a Government that is keeping its word and keeping faith with the electorate which put us here to do exactly what we are doing in this measure and in all other aspects of our 100-day plan. 
Nathan Guy 
: Very busy. 
TIM MACINDOE 
: We are a very very busy Government indeed. 
This is a bill and a measure that will be warmly welcomed wherever there is a problem with recidivist young offenders and I invite members to tell me which part of New Zealand does not have that problem. Sadly as Nanaia Mahuta has already pointed out we probably have more than our fair share of such problems in Hamilton West. As a new member who knocked on many doors and got the feeling of the electorate time after time at meeting after meeting I know that this issue really resonates with my electorate where people are demanding some action. My constituents are fed up with the soft approach to such issues which has quite clearly failed to deal with the problem of recidivist young offenders for far too long. 
Jacinda Ardern another Waikato member asked us where the evidence is to support this bill. I say to her that the first evidence is the policies followed by her party while it was in Government over 9 years that were such an abject failure. If one can see that something clearly has not worked why on earth would one keep arguing to go on doing it? I suggest very very clearly that we do young offenders a great disservice if we do not make a serious attempt to intervene and turn their lives around. I am determined not to give up on the young offenders in my electorate but that is why I will not give in to them. Secondly there is very clear evidence that our 1000 or so most serious young offenders require more time and more intensive intervention if they are to turn their lives around. We need to improve the measures that are there at the moment. That is what we must commit to doing and that is what we are committing to doing with this legislation. 
I say to members opposite that the research that they have asked for shows that longer intervention programmes give young people essential ongoing support and treatment to be able to make a long-term positive change. There is research to show that intensive programmes for young offenders such as what we are proposing to implement here will work if they address the underlying causes of offending. That is a point of common ground right across the House so let us focus on those underlying causes of offending and incorporate therapeutic and educational interventions. They are provided for in these measures. When members opposite use that fairly derogatory phrase “boot camps” to try to avoid the harder issues and the more important aspects of the bill they actually do a great disservice to the people who would benefit most from the measures. That is why next year we will give the courts the option of a highly specialised residential programme centred on military-style discipline which will have mentoring drug and alcohol literacy and numeracy modules all attached—a thorough wraparound programme and service. 
We on this side of the House know that there is a small core of young offenders whose crimes have seriously impacted on the lives of their victims and continue to do so and who pose a real threat to our communities. If we do not do something about the young offenders of tomorrow they become adult offenders; they are destined for a long period of incarceration. Surely no one opposite wants that—particularly I would have thought not the Maori members of Parliament—and we must not forget that if that happens there will be a long legacy of victims in their wake. I will do everything that I can as a member of Parliament to support measures that will prevent more people becoming the victims of serious crime. This Government believes that these young people need a fresh start and we will do it for them. 
This is just one of the 100 days of commitments; we have made a whole package of measures. Let us not see this measure in isolation; let us recognise that it is part of a major programme that is designed to recognise the real problems we have inherited. We can throw blame back and forth across the House and I believe that a lot of blame rests with the approach of the previous Government but I am even more concerned about doing something about it. By cracking down on these issues and by giving some real teeth to the system of dealing with young offenders we can make a difference for young people. We are keeping our word and we are delivering on what the electorate has asked us to do. My constituents asked me for this measure time and time again during last year’s campaign. At every meeting I attended law and order seemed to be one of the major concerns. At every meeting I attended speaker after speaker asked why we allow young people to go off the tracks and then just condemn them to a hopeless future. 
I commend the Minister for Social Development and Employment Paula Bennett for her initiative; I commend the Minister of Justice Simon Power for the measures that he has taken; I commend this Government for having the courage to say we can do something about it; and I ask the House to say that if the system has not worked for so long and if young people have been cast adrift for so long then we can we should and this Government will do something about it.