Labour is accusing the Government of ignoring evidence, survivor testimony and warnings from children’s advocates as it pushes military-style academies into New Zealand’s youth justice system.
The Oranga Tamariki legislation establishes a new Young Serious Offender declaration and military-style academy order, aimed at a relatively small group of young people involved in persistent and serious offending.
Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime says the policy takes New Zealand back towards punitive approaches when young offenders frequently require intensive rehabilitation, therapeutic services, education and trauma-informed support.
Academic research has previously found traditional boot-camp approaches do not reduce reoffending, while interventions incorporating therapeutic support, family involvement and skills development have stronger evidence behind them.
Labour has also pointed to problems during the Government’s military-style academy pilots and says those experiences should have stopped the programme being embedded in legislation.
The Government rejects the characterisation that its model is simply an old-fashioned boot camp.
It says young people placed under military-style academy orders will receive education, rehabilitation and cultural support while in residence, followed by assistance aimed at returning them to their communities, education or employment. The Government also points to a 25 percent reduction since June 2023 in children and young people exhibiting serious and persistent offending behaviour.
The debate is particularly significant for Māori, who are disproportionately represented within the youth justice system and among young people who have experienced state care.
Concerns about military-style approaches also intensified following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, which documented serious abuse experienced by children and young people in previous institutional and punitive environments.
Prime says Labour would scrap National’s military-style academies if elected and redirect the focus towards evidence-based interventions intended to address the causes of offending.
The party has also revived comments made by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in 2024 when challenged over whether boot camps worked. Luxon said at the time that he did not care what critics said about whether the approach worked, arguing the Government had to try something different because existing approaches were failing.
With military-style academies now embedded in the Government’s youth justice reforms, the argument moves from whether they should exist to whether they deliver what ultimately matters — fewer victims, less reoffending and better futures for rangatahi.
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