A youth homelessness charity says the rejection of the Ram Raid Bill despite being positive reflects a broader trend of disregarding tamariki.
Last week, the Select Committee released its report on Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill calling for it to be blocked, which would have added youth ram raiding to the Crimes Act if passed.
Kick Back founder Aaron Hendry says political parties have long used tamariki as political footballs to win votes.
“It’s really disappointing, and something I think as a society, we need to start organizing around and being very clear about political leaders, regardless of what political stripes we wear, that our tamariki are not, you know, they’re not for debate. You know, we need to be recognising that the basic human needs need to be upheld, and that needs to be at the centre of all of our conversations,” says Hendry.
Aaron Hendry says while youth crime rates spiked during COVID-19, this was an outlier in an overall downward trend.
However, he warns that increasing inequality may lead to rising crime rates.
