A pilot programme with 10 offenders is due to start at the end of this month. Photo: 123RF
Just weeks out from the start of the government's young offender boot camps, Oranga Tamariki is still discussing who will take on the critical role of intensive mentoring.
A pilot programme with 10 of the country's most serious offenders aged between 14 and 17 starts at the end of July.
They will be held in residence at a youth justice facility in Palmerston North for three months and spend nine months in the community under supervision.
Critics say these military style academies don't work and will make the teenagers even tougher and more anti-authority.
But the government insists the plan for intensive mentoring will make a difference.
It confirmed last month Oranga Tamariki had contacted a number of community organisations to see if they were interested in doing that work.
OT plans boot camp pilot amid staffing uncertainty
An online meeting is being held today - the first chance some of the 57 groups on the list will have had to hear details of what is being proposed.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told media on Wednesday "right from day one we have the community organisations embedded with these young people".
"The initial focus is making sure that there's core components that we've built from police advice and from Defence advice," he said.
"Making sure there's disciplines, making beds, self presentation, showing up for physical exercises, teamwork activity, personal discipline, health management.
"At the same time, we've actually started the conversation to make sure we've got the community organisations in early. Work with the families as well, siblings of these young people, and that will continue over a 12 month programme."
However, RNZ has seen an email from Oranga Tamariki telling the groups the date for the intensive mentor role has been pushed back to mid-August.
The ministry has told RNZ the boot camp pilot will still start in late July.
Defence Force involvement
Meanwhile, there has been confusion about the role of the Defence Force in the boot camp programme since the idea was floated almost two years ago.
While opposition leader in November 2022, Luxon announced National's plan to create Young Offender Military Academies to be run in partnership between the Justice Ministry and the Defence Force.
At the time the party pointed to the [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/478917/youth-crime-boot-camps-national-proposes-military-academies-electronic-monitoring
success of the military run Limited Service Volunteer programme] as evidence the camps would work.
Following the election, it was not clear until March this year that Children's Minister Karen Chhour and her ministry, Oranga Tamariki, had taken on leadership of the programme.
But Luxon and ministers Judith Collins and Mark Mitchell continued to compare the military style academies with the LSV scheme.
In an email to Collins in March, the NZDF cautioned the government against overstating the military's involvement also saying the policy was "not comparable" to the LSV course.
On 6 March, on Morning Report, Mitchell heaped praise on the scheme talking about proposed youth academies being "exactly the same thing".
That was despite the prime minister saying the government was trying something "different".
When asked on Morning Report on Monday whether Defence personnel would staff the academies Mitchell said "yes, absolutely".
"The model is around trying to introduce those values of teamwork, of loyalty... all the great values that our New Zealand Defence Force have are all transferable."
He also told the NZ Herald the same day there were 30 Defence personnel actively involved in the boot camps from back office work to the frontline.
The Defence Force has now unequivocally stated it will not be staffing or running the camps.
It told RNZ it was only involved "at a governance level, not staffing or running the facilities" which would be done by Oranga Tamariki.
"The NZDF's involvement at a governance level is through a senior NZDF officer who represents the Defence Force at a board chaired by a senior OT staff member."
It has also helped Oranga Tamariki to develop the curriculum, which draws heavily on the Limited Service Volunteer syllabus.
"This has included attendance at workshops and provision of information on current NZDF youth development programmes.
"NZDF is also currently running a two-week course for the OT personnel who will be staffing the facility. This is a 'train the trainers' course, which is involving about 30 NZDF personnel, and is going well."
In terms of how the boot camps will run, existing Oranga Tamariki staff will support the pilot.
During the first three-month residential phase, the team on-site will include specialists in youth work, social work, therapeutic support, psychology, physical training, residential operations and transitions back into community support networks.
The pilot is still in the design phase, which the ministry says is progressing well.