Macindoe Tim: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Macindoe Tim: Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:9338] 
TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West) 
: 
 Tonight’s debate is a milestone because it completes the enactment of the Government’s major commitments to New Zealanders at the 2008 general election. But it is even more significant because it demonstrates once again the resolve of a Government that cares enough about troubled youths to want to break their cycle of delinquency and crime and give them a fresh start and a brighter future. It is a Government that cares about communities that have had enough of selfish and unacceptable behaviour by a worrying number of young people who are running amok in this country. I say to Dr Prasad that it is a Government that is facing up to the considerable evidence that the current system is not working and has to be fixed. 
Labour members’ solution of more of the same demonstrates that they have learnt nothing from their comprehensive rejection at the last election. Opposition members claim to be concerned about these young people but they have consistently and deliberately misrepresented the key provisions of the Children Young Persons and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill and ignored the seriousness of the issues it is designed to tackle. 
In my electorate of Hamilton West we have at Hamilton’s Fraser High School one of the oldest and most respected school cadet schemes. It is if anything growing in popularity. Fraser’s cadet corps teaches its students discipline values and respect. It gives those young people a sense of purpose builds their self esteem and encourages them to aim high in other aspects of school and community life as well. Just last week some Fraser High School students who admitted that they were at risk of going off the rails asked to be signed up. I am very proud to represent Fraser High School in this House and I ask members to reflect on what that school and its cadet scheme are achieving. 
I mention that scheme because those benefits are exactly what military-style activity camps will offer the young offenders who are the focus of this bill. I am very disappointed that Opposition members of the Social Services Committee continue to parrot the dishonest “boot camp” slogan when they know that their imagery is dishonest and irresponsible. Worse it insults the fine men and women who are already offering programmes of this nature with great success around New Zealand and those who will lead the new military training activities provided for in this bill. I know they will do it well yet Opposition members would prefer to denigrate those people by conjuring up irrelevant images of screaming and abusive drill sergeants from B-grade American movies. That is offensive. 
Miss Dalziel talked earlier about a disservice yet she overlooked the irony that her party is doing a huge disservice to the people of New Zealand and especially the young people who are off the rails by demeaning and opposing the intent of this bill. Mr Nash lamented the fact that some of our young people are being labelled criminals when they may be just 12 or 13 years of age. We are talking here about young arsonists young aggravated robbers and young home invaders. These are serious crimes and I say to Labour members that people who commit crimes are criminals whether they are 13 or 93 years of age. It is sanctimonious claptrap for Labour members to deny that these young people are already on a dangerous path to a lifetime of serious adult offending. They are not innocent and they need our determined intervention. Worse it is actually heartless of Labour members to say we should not tackle the issues because to do so would damage the self-esteem of our country’s most serious young offenders. I did not know Harry Holland but I am confident that he would tell Stuart Nash that such politically correct puffery is just not right. The package of measures in this bill confronts the reality of New Zealand in 2010; not the mythical Peter Pan dreamland that exists in the minds of members opposite but not in a single town anywhere in this country. 
We are talking about mentoring that is tried and tested. It works in my city and it will be extended under this bill. We are talking about drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes that will be essential if many young offenders are to have any chance of breaking out of the damaging environment and lifestyle that so many of them have known for far too long. These programmes are not heartless or offensive to young people but failing to tackle those problems certainly is. Actually the words “heartless” and “offensive” better describe Labour’s approach to this whole debate. It is offering nothing new and nothing that deals with the magnitude and reality of the problem and it would rather stick with the status quo despite the overwhelming evidence around the country that the current system is just not working. Ignoring the plight of serious young offenders does a disservice to use Miss Dalziel’s word to those young people to their families and whanau to their victims—who members may have noticed have been conspicuously missing from any consideration by Labour’s speakers this evening—and to New Zealanders who suffer day in and day out from the consequences of juvenile delinquency in their communities. We are talking about parenting education to give those young people the skills they will desperately need when many of them become parents while still not much older than children themselves. Without that commitment we condemn their offspring to a future just as bleak and I am 100 percent sure I say to Mr Nash that Harry Holland would say that that just would not be right. 
This bill is appropriate. It is realistic and it is compassionate in the manner of tough love initiatives. It reflects the commitment of the Minister for Social Development and Employment and of this Government to doing much better by our troubled youth and all who care for them or live with the consequences of their behaviour. That is why I am proudly supporting this bill and that is why I am confident that it will make a positive difference in one of our most challenging areas of social policy. With the passing of this bill we will give our Youth Court the tools it needs to tackle one of our country’s most serious challenges. 
Debate interrupted.