Opposition puts govt on back foot over youth crime wave

A visibly exasperated prime minister sought to fend off a fresh onslaught by the opposition on the burning issue of youth offending.

To a pointed question by Leader of the Opposition Christopher Luxon as to how many more retailers must have their windows smashed “and their staff and customers terrorised” before the government acts, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reeled off statistics in defence of her government.

In Counties Manukau alone, since the beginning of 2022, there have been 85 ram raids, 63 prosecutions, and 30 youth referrals, the PM informed Parliament on November 22.

She said there was a record number of police on the beat to deal with the spike in ram raid activity.

But National continued to plug the line that young serious offenders needed to face tougher consequences.

Ardern countered by pointing to a decline in ram raids and burglaries.

“In August, we had 75, for the current month we are currently standing at 13,” she told the House. Prosecutions had gone up across each of the affected districts, she said.

Ardern said the government was focused on putting in place measures aimed at stopping repeat offences.

In an apparent dig at Luxon’s recently announced proposal of sending youth offenders to a boot camp, the prime minister accused National of rehashing “failed policies for political gain.”

“On the other hand, that member [Luxon] is choosing not to accept the fact his boot camp policy was brought in by John Key in 2008, again by Bill English in 2017, and again, now, by the new member [Luxon] who purported to bring fresh ideas for the National Party,” Ardern noted.

Luxon retorted by suggesting that young offenders might benefit from mentoring by the New Zealand Defence Forces.

But evidence showed such policies failed to prevent reoffending, Ardern argued.

Minister of Justice Kiritapu Allan buttressed the prime minister’s stand by pointing out that the governments approach to the problem of youth offending was centred around rehabilitation.

The wraparound support for young offenders announced in September has yielded results, and “around half of the most serious and repeat offenders that were identified are now back in education or training, and almost a third have not reoffended,” the minister told the House.

Since May, in Auckland, 1,036 charges have been laid against 142 young people; in Waikato, 1,229 charges have been filed against 205 young people, the minister noted.

While the Labour government has been focused on increasing police presence on the streets, the National Party, when it was in power, had reduced the number of police on the streets, the minister added.