Tamati Coffey Labour List MP

There's no question that this is a beautiful place to live, with a wonderful natural environment, a vibrant community and great local businesses. It's also a safe place to live, and making sure that it stays that way is a top priority for me.

While youth crime has been trending down long term, the recent spike that New Zealand has seen in ram raids is concerning.

Our Government is focused on tackling the problems that cause crime with solutions that are proven to work and ensuring that consequences are in place. We've rolled out a wide range things to achieve this, including our Better Pathways package.

This package expands programmes that support young people back into education or employment, and the great news is that it's already having an impact on offending. Around half of the most serious and repeat young offenders that have been identified and targeted are now in education or training, and wrap-around support is in place to help them get back on the right track.

And we're taking the next step in our plan with a circuit-breaker for a specific group of children who engage in serious and repeat offending. It will ensure children who commit serious crimes will be dealt with immediately and receive the support
they need to stop them offending again.

We know there's no single solution to tackling
crime or the causes of it, but we're absolutely focused on putting in place solutions that work and helping at-risk young people turn their lives around.