Te Hurihanga, Te Ara Hou Village, Hamilton.

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To my parliamentary colleagues, Archbishop Moxon, Bishop Hemi Huhu-Pennington and other clergy, Principal Youth Court Judge Becroft and members of the Judiciary, Hamilton City Councillors, Stephen Tindall, Leaders of Youth Horizons Trust and Maatua Whangai, Secretary of Justice Belinda Clarke and Officials and all assembled guests thank you for your warm welcome, and thank you all for being here to mark the opening of the Te Hurihanga residence and programme.

I am very pleased to be here for today's event, and not just because I believe strongly in what this important facility aims to achieve, but also because I was unable to make it to October's event, which marked the start of construction.

Today is an important milestone for the Government's and the community's investment in the future of the young people of New Zealand.

Te Hurihanga, which loosely translates to mean "the turning point", has been designed to give those young people, who have shown the signs that they are heading down the wrong path, an opportunity to turn their lives around and avoid a life of crime.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of all the people who have contributed to the Te Hurihanga journey. This is a process that goes back at least to the late 1990s, when Youth Court Judge Carolyn Henwood, along with the support of James Johnson and others, crafted her vision of an intensive residential and community programme for recidivist young offenders.

The Government saw the potential in Judge Henwood’s vision. What was then known as the “Youth Focus Eight” programme became a key initiative in the Youth Offending Strategy, launched by the Government in 2002.

The Ministry of Justice was assigned the challenging task of turning the vision into reality, which is the residence and programme we today know as Te Hurihanga.

Over the years there have been many significant milestones in this project.

Hamilton was selected as the location for the programme back in 2002. Hamilton has a high level of inter-agency co-operation, which has been drawn on successfully in other initiatives. It is essential to the success of this programme that Government agencies and community groups work well together.

Location

The selection of a specific site that was suitable for the residence was a long and at times contentious process.

The location of the Te Hurihanga residence was critically important. The young people need to be based in the community in order to succeed and I am pleased that, after a lengthy site selection process, Te Ara Hou Village was found.

The residence will be located amongst other social services and residential facilities, within a supportive community structure.

I would like to take this time to acknowledge the difficulties that arose around the location of the site and I am grateful to the Anglican Diocese and Te Ara Hou Village Trust for their willingness to make this site available for development.

I would like to acknowledge all those in the local and wider community who gave their support to this initiative in what, at times, became the focus of heated debate.

I would also like to acknowledge the apprehension of those who opposed the location of Te Hurihanga here at this site. It is important that people exercise their right to express their views on a proposal such as this and that those views are given fair and serious consideration. All those views were given fair and serious consideration.

However, now, with the opening of the residence I hope that we can put the debate behind us and focus on creating a positive environment in which young people, their families, and their community can be supported and be supportive.

I would also, of course, like to acknowledge Rob Handyside and his team for their part in making today a reality. Well done – we're here!

Government policy

As many of you will be aware the Justice Ministry is leading a multi-agency project to reduce criminal offending and address New Zealand's growing prison population.

A key theme of this project, entitled Effective Interventions, is tilting the balance earlier to prevent crime and to reduce youth offending. I believe we can make significant progress in this area through expanding early interventions and focusing on at-risk young people.

The overall goal of early intervention strategies is to encourage compliance with the law and steer young people away from 'graduating' to adult crime. Young people must always understand that there are consequences for their actions, but there must also be support for those young offenders who choose to take a more positive path.

I am confident Te Hurihanga will contribute towards the Government’s objectives by providing the skills that will help young people make the necessary changes, re-integrate within their communities and curb further offending before it leads them in the downward spiral of more serious offending and ultimately prison.

Te Hurihanga

The highly innovative Te Hurihanga programme itself is unique to New Zealand. It draws on best practice approaches from around the world that are aimed at reducing re-offending by youth, and integrating these with a New Zealand touch so that it appropriately addresses the specific issues of young offenders here.

The programme is tailored to suit each young person and is delivered by highly skilled staff, who will provide and guide a graduated, intensively supervised, reintegration to the young person’s home and community. There will be a mixture of education and life skills within the models employed and these will assist in helping young people develop.

Youth Horizons Trust was selected as the main programme provider because of their expertise and excellent track record in helping young people. Robert Swayles, Board members, Cath Handley and staff who are here today, I extend my best wishes to you in the work you are commencing with the first young people. I have been encouraged by your commitment to Te Hurihanga.

I also want to acknowledge Maharaia Paki and staff of Maatua Whangai who have supported the kaupapa of Te Hurihanga, working alongside Youth Horizons. There are great opportunities for the two provider organisations. There will be considerable interest in the partnership you have developed.

Maatua Whangai, who have provided specialist services for young people over the years, have recently integrated with other local Maori services. For those who are Maori the expertise of a specialist Maori provider can be pivotal.

Let me be clear, the programme is not a soft option. It is designed to reduce re-offending and to hold young male offenders accountable for their offending. This can only be achieved with specialist support, which will allow the young people to become positive members of their family and of the community.

Whanau are an important component of the programme and the young person’s success. The community phase of the programme will require therapy to be delivered in the young person’s home with their family involved. It is important for the future of these young people that their family is available and supportive throughout the programme and following its completion.

The programme will be formally evaluated at the end of three years, and what we will learn from this evaluation will be valuable in determining and developing ways of effectively addressing youth offending more broadly.

While Te Hurihanga is a programme led by the Justice Ministry, it has been supported by other government agencies, particularly, the Police, Child, Youth and Family, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. As I mentioned earlier Hamilton is well known as a city where government agencies work well together to improve outcomes for young people.

Alongside the involvement of government agencies it is essential there is community support. It is well established that a reduction in crime is more achievable where there is support from individuals and groups within the community.

I am confident that Te Hurihanga will play its part in making Hamilton a genuinely safer city and potentially represent a positive model for other communities to adopt.

Conclusion

In concluding, I would also like to acknowledge the work of the architect Grant Jenkins, and builder Lue Shaw. You have designed and constructed something quite unique. This whare does not have an institutional feel. The building is a family home and it blends in well. Your work is complete and we thank you for it. We look forward to moving inside to see the layout shortly.

Once again I acknowledge Judge Henwood for her untiring efforts, and to Youth Horizons and Maatua Whangai for their commitment to develop and deliver the programme.

I would like to wish everyone associated with this project the very best. I appreciate that the work to be done here is difficult and may at times be frustrating. Be assured of the wide interest there will be in your results. With careful planning and the right structures and staff in place, Te Huirhanga has the promise of being a programme that Hamilton and the rest of New Zealand can be proud of.

Mihi Whakamutunga