The Government’s half-hearted report card on their boot camps experiment just highlights again why they are a waste of time and money.

“Karen Chhour’s update that she’s ‘mostly satisfied’ with her pilot will be of no relief to the many advocates, experts and survivors who’ve continued expressing their concerns about the camps,” children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said.

“With one participant already having left the pilot, it’s worrying to see the National-led Government scrambling to pass legislation to prevent future participants from leaving these camps.

“Karen Chhour has done little to quell worries for these young people’s safety and has recently failed to front up to the hard questions, instead opting to blame those who ask them.

“We’ve had Prime Minister Christopher Luxon previously criticise Oranga Tamariki staff, saying military leaders would be better mentors for our young people.

“We then heard from the Police Minister that the NZDF would have ‘heavy involvement’, that there’d be 30 NZDF staff actively involved. We’ve later found out the NZDF would have no frontline involvement and now we learn all the staff are existing Oranga Tamariki workers.

“This, coupled with the fact that staff have only had two weeks of prior training to be military leaders, makes this experiment all the more concerning.

“With both Christopher Luxon and Karen Chhour failing to guarantee the safety of those in boot camps, it’s a clear sign that we shouldn’t be walking back down this path,” said Willow-Jean Prime.

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