Opening Of Youth Development Unit Central

Hon Heather Roy speech to open Youth Development Unit, Central; Trentham Military Camp, Upper Hutt; Tuesday, June 8 2010.

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.

Your worship the Mayor of Upper Hutt Wayne Guppy; Vice Chief of Defence Force, Rear Admiral Jack Steer; Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Tony Parr; Commander Joint Forces, Air Vice Marshal Peter Stockwell; Assistant Police Commissioners Jon White and Viv Rickard, General Manager Employment Services, Stephen Cunningham; your worships the Mayors of Porirua, Jenny Brash and Otorohanga, Dale Williams; Staffs of the New Zealand Defence Force, New Zealand Police, Ministry of Social Development.

I am delighted to be here today to open the Youth Development Unit, Central.

The first of the second round of recruits marched in yesterday and I was pleased to hear that, while there were only meant to be 104, 105 have turned up.  One young fellow found a job and, so, put his brother on the bus in his place.  It is very pleasing to hear that people want to come.

In 2009 the Government made the decision to help young New Zealanders who wanted to help themselves and introduced a wide range of youth focused initiatives. 
Of particular interest to me as Associate Minister of Defence was the allocation of $19 million dollars enabling the Ministry of Social Development and Ministry of Education to purchase youth focused development programmes from the Defence Force.

Today's opening marks the expansion of a highly effective and productive partnership between the Ministry of Social Development and the New Zealand Defence Force, to provide life skills and opportunities to young people across New Zealand.

The Defence Force has designed the Youth Development Unit model, and created three Youth Development Units at Burnham, Trentham and Hobsonville. NZDF has recruited 85 staff over the three services - both Regular Force and Reservists - to deliver these programmes to meet the Government's expectations. 

The Defence Force is uniquely placed to provide training and development that can make a real difference to the lives of many young kiwis. The government has identified NZDF as the best agency in New Zealand to lead this work.  But it is a team effort with involvement from several other agencies present here today - a whole of Government approach.  Defence can provide military-style training, but staff are not social workers or law enforcers.

As a trained soldier, I have experienced defence training first hand.

I fully appreciate the benefits that such a system of training can instil in individuals and I have seen how people pushed outside their comfort zones can and do grow and develop as individuals as a result of that training.  Knowing one's strengths and weaknesses, the limits of ability carry over into every facet of life.

The NZDF has a long and proud history of providing leadership and personal development programmes for all personnel and especially for our young people.
The best known of these youth courses is the Limited Service Volunteer scheme which has been run in various forms for more than 20 years and is better known as LSV.

The LSV course has always been championed by Work and Income case managers throughout New Zealand.  They recognise the value of this training and encourage the young people they are responsible for to undertake the course, and marvel at the transformations they see when those young people return after six weeks of motivation and personal development.

This work has been undertaken for many years in conjunction with Work and Income and other agencies like the New Zealand Police. The enduring nature of these relationships are testament to their strength.

The relationship with the Police is especially strong here at Trentham.

A Police mentor works with each LSV course to change negative stereotypes and provide non-confrontational engagement with Police.
 
Here at Trentham, that mentor is Constable Jayne Gorinski, who herself completed the LSV course at Burnham 13 years ago, and has embraced the opportunity to return to work with trainees in the same environment that she took so much from.

Like Jayne, many of the staff who work on the LSV course have a passion for the work they are doing and tell of the significant transformations they witness in individuals. Many course instructors want to stay with their LSV unit because of the satisfaction they gain from their work. It is fair to say that working with young people brings with it many challenges but also great rewards.

There are many success stories and I know the expansion of the Youth Development programmes will bring many more. I am always inspired by the story of one former LSV who returned to lead the scheme.

Major Cate Webb completed the then 20 week LSV course at Burnham in 1987 and joined the Army the following year.  Cate worked in Army education and as she rose through the ranks she completed the qualifications she needed to become a teacher. Later she undertook an operational deployment to Afghanistan.

Cate describes one of her favourite moments being her appointment to head the LSV Company, as it was then called, in Burnham. From that moment every parade that unit had, was lead by Major Webb - an officer who could look every trainee in the eye and tell them that she knew exactly what they were going through.
 
The reality of the activities being undertaken at this establishment by these staff is that they are tangible evidence of the role the Defence Force can play in working with some of our most vulnerable young kiwis. The aim is to help them become active and contributing members of our society.

The fact that Defence Force personnel and training can make such a significant contribution in this important area is a compliment to the Defence Force.  All members, not just YDU staff, should take pride in the fact that the NZDF can provide this training and has been chosen to do so.

We are here today to open the Trentham facilities but it is of course the people that make the difference - the trainers and the trainees. I look forward to hearing the stories that inevitably come from training - we all have them - and the opportunities that will arise for the young people who have completed these courses.

Last Friday the Prime Minister opened the Youth Development Unit, Northern at Hobsonville and today it is my pleasure to declare the Youth Development Unit, Central open.