Lock up the kids, vote grabs abound

Curfews and boot camps are well adrift of National’s usual line: Parents know best

National’s plan to fine parents of under-13s caught marauding in the wee hours and slap youth offenders into a Waiouru winter for a boot camp is less about youth offending than getting votes.

Boot camps and curfews hark back to the olden days. What next? A return to the 6 o’clock swill?

The idea of a state-imposed curfew on those under 13 and fines for the parents of children who breach it is well adrift of National’s usual line that parents know best how to raise their kids and should be left to it.

Even Prime Minister Bill English admitted there was little evidence other than anecdotal for the likely effectiveness of a fine. He simply concluded that even one 12-year-old wandering round in the middle of the night was too many and that was that.

There may be no evidence to back it up, but there is evidence toughtalking law and order policies get votes.

In this case the target is National’s own supporters concerned about crime and older voters who think the youth of today are missing out on good, old-fashioned discipline. In other words, it is aimed at NZ First voters or those looking that way.

The very next day, National bookended its tough talk policy with a more considered $100 million package on mental health. It was an area Labour had made a lot of noise about, accusing National of presiding over big increases in mental health problems without enough action.

That package was aimed at shoring up National’s vote in the centre with a reminder of the “compassionate conservatism” former Prime Minister John Key had preached but English was responsible for delivering under his “social investment” model.

This did have evidence behind it (some of it ignored, such as chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman’s plea for action on alcohol). It targeted a similar age range as the law and order policies — Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said half of all mental health problems were apparent by the age of 14.

But unlike the youth offenders policy, it was a fully fledged Government measure with funding allocated and ready to begin.

The “evidence” behind the law and order policies was more negligible.

They are based on the public reaction to media coverage of dairy robberies by young people and the rampage in Kaikohe earlier this year by a group of 12 to 14-year-olds. In the latter case, a fine approach might have backfired — it was the parents who dobbed the offenders in. The prospect of a fine as a reward might have deterred them.

English made a more convincing case for boot camps although a string of experts, including his own science adviser, say evidence they work is flimsy to nonexistent.

English claimed the courses were more comprehensive, would involve education as well as physical training. He contended it was better than prison or a youth justice facility which he sees as a Tricks of the Trade Academy where young crims learn how to become older crims.

Between them the two policies did at least kick Labour’s leader, Jacinda Ardern, off the top of the news for a while.

Her counter-offer yesterday was a reheat of Labour’s 2015 proposal to teach driving at school.

English’s response to that? It was “half-thought through”.