In the Government’s scramble to sell their failed boot camps, we’ve had the Police Minister contradict the Prime Minister, officials correcting and warning Ministers, and a Children’s Minister missing in action, said children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime.
“It’s all a confusing mess as the Government trips over itself, and each other, to push through a tried and failed experiment.
“We heard Christopher Luxon confirm the Defence Force would have minimal involvement. Then we had Police Minister Mark Mitchell saying they’d actually be heavily involved. And now, most recently, Defence themselves have stated they won’t be staffing the camps.
“It’s becoming clearer by the day that no one wants their name attached to a project which will fail the people the Government insists it is helping.
“The Prime Minister has also said community groups have been involved since day one, which doesn’t match up with the many communities now speaking up against this baseless experiment.
“With only a few weeks until the pilot, it’s worrying to me that it looks like they’re still making things up as they go.
“And, nowhere to be seen in all of this is Children’s Minister Karen Chhour, who we’ve also heard is meant to be running this programme.
“Families and children across the country are relying on Karen to stand up for them. If she and Minister Mitchell can’t even organise who’s running their own boot camps experiment, what hope can New Zealanders have for them to deliver on their other promises?
“It’s disgraceful that after hearing experts, officials, and people working with children across the country resoundingly agree that boot camps are a bad idea – the Government have stubbornly dug their heels in further.
“One has to wonder if the reason they’re not taking this seriously, is because deep down, they too don’t even think it’ll work – or in the Prime Minister’s own words ‘don’t care’,” said Willow-Jean Prime.
