1. Public Service Targets—Beneficiaries Reoffending and Youth CrimeRt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime MinisterWEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.Prayers.ORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSPublic Service Targets—Beneficiaries Reoffending and Youth Crime1. Rt Hon BILL ENGLISH (Leader of the Opposition) to the Prime Minister: Does she stand by all her Government's policies?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Prime Minister: Yes.SPEAKER: I think I will just ask the Deputy Prime Minister to answer in the normal form—on behalf of.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Ha ha! I am delighted to answer on behalf of the Prime Minister by saying as she would say yes.Rt Hon Bill English: Does the Prime Minister stand by her statement that she will abolish targets that were focused on better public services for families with complex social problems?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Yes. The Government is committed to genuine change to tackle poverty and help ensure New Zealand becomes the best place in the world to be a child.Rt Hon Bill English: So if as a result of the Prime Minister's statement the target to reduce long-term welfare dependency is abolished what will be the Government's approach to reducing long-term welfare dependency?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: This Government is very much aware that last year the concentration of wealth in this country in the hands of 1 percent was in fact 28 percent of the growth in real wealth. That leads to poverty. This Government seeks to build an enduring political consensus to act to reduce poverty among our children and improve well-being by—[Interruption] You're not interested in the answer? So why did you ask the question in the first place then?Hon Dr Nick Smith: I'd like you answer the question on welfare dependency. The question was welfare dependency.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well there's another leader leading from the rear. There's probably eight of them up against the grindstone as we speak. But if I could finish the answer the Government is seeking to build an enduring political consensus to deal with the improvement of well-being by requiring Governments to set their own specific targets and we're going to work hard to make sure we meet them.Rt Hon Bill English: Is the Prime Minister aware that a target to reduce the number of children under a particular income level which will be reported in 2 years' time is not the same thing as reducing the number of people who for instance have been on welfare for 15 years and would prefer to work but the Government hasn't done anything to assist them in that desire?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: The great difference between this Government and the previous one on this issue is we came to Government very conscious of the problem we had to face. That Government took nine years to discover it.Rt Hon Bill English: So if as a result of the Prime Minister's statement the target is removed that focused on reducing the reoffending of prisoners who were released from prison then what will the Public Service focus on with respect to reoffending?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: With the greatest of respect the previous Government's so-called efficiency targets in the Public Service were all talk. What we did see was all the figures getting worse and that's the reason why they're sitting over there and we're over here.Rt Hon Bill English: If as a result of the Prime Minister's statement the 30 percent reduction in youth crime is no longer and the further reduction in youth crime is no longer a focus for the Government then what is the Government's approach to dealing with young people committing crime?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: This Government does not believe in fictitious policies such as telling the police that when they catch someone offending warn them and don't charge them. That was the reason why the crime figures fell and it was discovered around the country and every provincial criminal lawyer will tell you about that.Rt Hon Bill English: Is it now the Government's policy that there will be no warnings from police to teenagers they suspect of having committed a crime and that in fact from now the Government is going to instruct the police to arrest and charge all young people whom it suspects of committing a crime?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: This Government's policy is not catch and release" which was the previous Government's policy when it comes to an offence. If someone has committed a crime then the police will do their job. We're going to ensure the police have the firepower the man and woman power and the resources to keep the law in this country.Rt Hon Bill English: Well can I ask the same question again then: is it now the Government's policy—as articulated by the Prime Minister in this House altering 20 or 30 years of practice in New Zealand—that there will be no warnings from the police for a young person they believe may be an offender and that in fact if the police believe someone is an offender they won't be "catching and releasing" but they now will be catching charging and seeking to prosecute?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: It has definitely not been the policy of successive Governments for 30 years to just catch an offender and warn them. For the last 30 years—until the National Government changed it in the last administration to "catch and release"—that was the sound policy followed all around the Western World because if you commit an offence then you should be charged for it.Rt Hon Bill English: So how does the Prime Minister's policy of charging all potential youth offenders and setting out to prosecute them fit with the announcements made by the Minister of Corrections that he wants to cut the prison population by 30 percent?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: That is a total misrepresentation of the Prime Minister's statement. The second thing is that it is astonishing for this country to be witnessing a so-called law and order party believing that crime should pay. We don't have that view."