Dear John,

Yesterday, concerned business people in Hamilton came to hear me announce National’s Combatting Youth Offending Plan. It’s a government responsibility to keep its citizens safe and this Labour government that’s soft on crime, isn’t doing it. I gave a clear message to young offenders: “Under National, you will face consequences for your actions.”

I know the public are, like me, not only wanting to see young, repeat perpetrators face consequences, but also get on a more constructive life path. So National will create Young Offender Military Academies where 15-17 year old young, serious offenders can be sent for up to 12 months. These academies will provide discipline, mentoring, schooling and intensive rehabilitation to make a decisive intervention in young offenders’ lives. The academies will be run in partnership with the Defence Force, and at their bases.

While in Hamilton, it was great to support our Hamilton West by-election candidate Tama Potaka. He’s hard at work and doing a great job. The cost-of-living crisis is top of mind for people in Hamilton.  National has a plan to tackle inflation. Labour doesn’t. 

There’s been reaction this week to me taking a stand about abysmal school attendance. I make no apology for speaking out about my concern and I utterly reject Labour’s insistence that absenteeism is all about Covid. It isn’t, and the culture of excuses needs to stop.

The Government, schools and parents all have a role in solving this. Achievement levels are already poor and children who don’t attend school regularly are five times more likely to fall behind in reading, writing and maths. Lifting New Zealand‘s educational standards is important to me, and I know that it matters to all of you, too.

It was lovely meeting Howick locals at their 175th anniversary last weekend.

National’s plans to combat youth offending, tackle gangs, improve education and get young long-term Jobseekers into work, are connected. For a start, these are serious and difficult social issues that are being neglected by Labour which simply wrings its hands and makes excuses. These are about people’s rights and responsibilities as New Zealand citizens.

Finally, a couple of lighter things…  You might have seen that recently Finance Minister Grant Robertson gave a speech to the Labour Party conference where he name-checked National 20 times, and me nine times. (In the same speech, he mentioned the cost of living once, which says a lot about his priorities.) Our digital team have given it a re-mix. Hope you enjoy it.

Have a great weekend,

Christopher

PS Take a look at National’s Tertiary Education spokesperson Penny Simmonds’ excellent speech in Parliament this week about Labour’s inept polytech merger. Great work, Penny!