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Leader's LetterJune 2002Entry Level Crime SoarsFrom 1997 to 2000 over 500 children aged 13 or less were apprehended for drink- driving. Every Monday we pick up our papers and read about the local mayhem caused by young people who have been binge drinking. Up and down the country we have witnessed violent attacks and home invasions where some of the perpetrators have been pre-teen. Our schoolteachers tell of the difficulties they have teaching kids high on drugs after lunch.Where once some of the ‘naughty ’ kids had a smoke behind the bike sheds now they share a joint or increasingly partake of speed and other amphetamines. Where once this was a glossed over problem at the secondary level it is now not an irregular occurrence in primary and intermediate schools. The growing gang culture in our country continues to attract many of our young people.Prospects are actively courted and any of these children begin a life of crime. Because they are small enough to get in windows they are introduced to the burglary circuit.Besides,if they are caught they will get slapped over the wrist with a wet bus ticket and the real (adult) perpetrators will be scot-free.Because they go to schools with hundreds of other young people they will be used to peddle drugs and recruit their friends.The “Evening Post ” recently reported that 13 year olds were being used to buy raw materials for the manufacture of the increasingly prevalent drug methamphetamine (speed). The booty from these crimes gives these young impressionable people access to material wealth that they otherwise would not have.The cash they can receive is converted into drugs and alcohol.The good time they have today is at the cost of their health,their education,and their future.The messages they get from society are that it is OK unless you get caught,that if you get caught nothing much will happen,and after nothing much has happened you can do it all again.And more sinisterly,you may have little choice about continuing because of the pressure of the gang and gang-like cultures that increasingly pervade our society. We can point the finger at our schoolteachers,underpaid and undervalued and increasingly social workers rather than educators. We can point the finger at parents many of them financially struggling and increasingly in a solo situation. We can point the finger at Government departments like CYFS,under resourced and under siege. We can point the finger at the Police with neither the powers nor the time and certainly not the numbers to deal with this rising tide. We can put it all down to unfortunate economic social conditions that are particularly rife in some communities. Or we can continue to overlook these problems and just put it down as kids being kids. Just kids boozing,driving illegally and killing themselves and others,committing burglaries,misusing drugs,being increasingly violent and anti -social,raping, and murdering. Or perhaps we should point the finger at our politicians? Some politicians must surely take responsibility for the legal framework that provides the guidelines for dealing with youth offending.Family Group Conferences may well have been effective for handling some youth justice issues but fail miserably in many of the circumstances described above. Some politicians must surely take responsibility for lowering the drinking age, and for a more liberal attitude to cannabis and other drugs. Some politicians must surely take responsibility for the under resourcing of many of our social institutions and the poor training of many who are called upon to work with our youth. Some politicians must surely take responsibility for the breakdown in the family,for the undermining of traditional values,and for the encouragement of solo parenting through unconditional domestic purpose benefit payments.This weakening of the family unit is a key factor in many of today ’s tragic social statistics. Some politicians must surely also take responsibility for the divisiveness of the grievance industry that Treaty of Waitangi issues have become. And Labour and National politicians of 1984 to 1996 must certainly take responsibility for the failed economic experiment that has led to a widening gulf between the haves and have-nots that daily contributes to the increasing violence in our society,a violence born of alienation and desperation. Political point scoring would reef home the responsibility to both National and Labour politicians of recent decades.The issue is far too important to dwell on the obvious failings of the past.What we need is a policy prescription to allow us to move forward. New Zealand First ’s policy prescription includes:
ACHIEVEMENT COUNTS Let ’s remind the world of some of our achievements in our short time in Government !We are proud to list:
NEW ZEALAND FIRST CONVENTION New Zealand First will now hold its annual Convention,originally scheduled for 27 July,at the end of the year.Helen Clark ’s decision to call an early election obviously changes our priorities:the immediate challenge for our members is to get behind our campaign to fix the immigration mess,to deal to the Treaty of Waitangi industry,and to reclaim law and order on our streets. Rt Hon Winston Peters MP
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