Hon Heather Roy speech to the Air Training Corps Association of New Zealand National council; Trentham; Saturday, May 16 2009.

Air Marshal Sir Richard Bolt, Air Vice Marshal Peter Adamson, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning and thank you for inviting me to speak to you this morning.

The Air Training Corps enjoys a proud history. While you officially came into existence in 1941, the ancestry of the New Zealand Cadet Forces traces back to the first school-based unit in Otago in 1864. I was particularly pleased to have cadets included in my delegated authorities as Associate Minister of Defence and I certainly didn't wait around for the formalities to be complete before getting stuck in to learning more about your people, systems and structure.

Since last year's election, I have reviewed the No 17 (City of Christchurch) Squadron end of year parade, visited the National Aviation Course at Woodbourne and the outdoor leadership courses at Dip Flat. I was briefed on the NZCF during the two days I spent there with Wing Commander Guy Bendall and his team. I was impressed, on each occasion, at the commitment and enthusiasm of the people I met - from regular force personnel to cadet force officers, support staff and parents. However, it is the cadets themselves who amaze me most.

At Dip Flat, we tramped for about 20 minutes to get to where the cadets were overnighting. We found them setting up shelters and preparing meals after a day-long navigation exercise. There were no vending machines, takeaways, cellphones or ipods but they were all smiling and keen to chat about what they were up to. It has become commonplace, in our society, to hear discussions about the youth of today being lazy, negative, unmotivated and the like. What I tell people who make those comments is to go and spend some time with their local cadet unit. We know that the vast majority of cadets are impressive young kiwis.

Unfortunately, there has been undue focus by politicians and social agencies, over the last 20 years, on youth at risk. I believe that the greatest risk to youth is actually the use of that term. While hundreds of millions of dollars has been poured into programmes that focus on ambulances at the bottom of the cliff, very little has been put into rewarding success and reinforcing the behaviours that we wish our young people to display. This sends teenagers all the wrong signals.

Developing good citizens hasn't changed in thousands of years - it requires leadership. This involves the building of relationships based on trust and consistency. It also involves exposing our young people to role models who represent the way we would like them to be. This means consistently demonstrating the values on which they should base their individual personalities. One parenting coach described it in terms of three things that teenagers want to know:

1 Who's in charge?
2 What are the rules?
3 Will the rules be enforced fairly for all?

That's why organisations such as ATCANZ are fundamental to New Zealand society. In your role as a stakeholder in the Cadet Force Charter, you are facilitating the day-to-day operations of the officers, civilian instructors and parent support committees in ATC squadrons throughout the country. By doing so, you are enabling them to provide the leadership that has made a difference to thousands of teenagers over nearly 70 years. I know that you are all volunteers and have made sacrifices to undertake your roles and, for that, I wish to thank you.

For many years, the subject of funding for cadets has been discussed. The introduction of accrual accounting and closure of Defence Force facilities since the early 1990s has put further financial pressure on units. When combined with the difficulty that all community groups have in raising money, it is clear that the situation cannot be allowed to continue. There are approximately 5,000 cadets across the three service streams and this makes the NZCF a major New Zealand youth programme. Just imagine what could be achieved if 10% of the funds currently spread across dozens of ministries, departments and programmes for youth at risk was instead applied to your activities. Little would change in those other programmes but much would be gained in rewarding successful teenagers such as ATC cadets.

As part of Defence Review '09, I am leading three companion studies, of which two are of direct relevance to you. These are:

* The role of the NZ Defence Force in Youth Programmes and the NZ Cadet Force; and
* Voluntary National Service, including examining future options for a whole of Government strategy.

The way in which Government funds the NZCF will be examined in detail as part of this study and you will have the opportunity to provide information to the review team. The terms of reference for these studies will be released soon and they are targeted for completion by early next year.

I can see that today's programme is very full and so I will close by thanking you for your ongoing contribution to our country's future. Your efforts do not go unnoticed and they definitely do make a difference.