5. Question No. 5—ChildrenDr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT) to the Minister for ChildrenQuestion No. 5—Children5. Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (ACT) to the Minister for Children: What recent announcements if any has she made regarding the Government's commitment to crack down on serious youth offending?Hon KAREN CHHOUR (Minister for Children): Thank you Mr Speaker. This morning I announced that we intend to have a pilot for a military-style academy for youth offenders operating from the middle of this year. The approach to serious and persistent youth offending over the past six years has clearly not been working and something needs to change in how we respond to this group of young people to help them turn their lives around and break the cycle of offending. That is why I'm proud to work with this Government in delivering on its promise to create youth offender military academies.Dr Parmjeet Parmar: How will these academies differ from previous approaches to address youth offending?Hon KAREN CHHOUR: The Military-style Activity Camp Programme or the MAC Programme was run between 2010 and 2016 in partnership between Child Youth and Family and the New Zealand Defence Force. An evaluation of this programme showed positive results with improvements in the attitude and motivation of the young people to address their offending. However it also found that a lack of robust support once each young person left the programme meant improved outcomes were not realised to the extent they might have been. That is why this pilot is going to have a focus on rehabilitation and take a trauma-informed approach alongside the military-style component to ensure these young people receive the full wraparound support they need to turn their lives around and reduce the risk of reoffending.Dr Parmjeet Parmar: How will the military-style academies operate in practice?Hon KAREN CHHOUR: Oranga Tamariki will lead and deliver the programme working alongside other Government departments to ensure a multi-agency approach and a well-rounded programme that is not just focused on discipline and structure but works to address the underlying cause of offending. We will also work with community providers where they have the expertise and experience in working with young people who often have multiple and complex needs. While on the programme young people will receive the counselling drug and alcohol treatment mentoring and cultural support that they require.Dr Parmjeet Parmar: What other actions is the Government taking to address serious and persistent youth offending?Hon KAREN CHHOUR: Alongside this pilot programme the Government is looking at legislative changes to enable stronger consequences for young people who are committing crimes. These changes include looking at establishing the military academy programme as a stand-alone sentencing option for judges and a new young serious offender category to enable stronger sentencing powers and monitoring requirements. As I've said before we cannot continue with the previous approach. We owe it to these young people to do everything that we can to help them. This is not just about having consequences for their actions but actually showing them that they have it within themselves to turn their lives around and giving them the tools that they need to encourage them.