Children's Minister Karen Chhour. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Children's Minister Karen Chhour cannot guarantee young people being sent to boot camps will not be at some risk of abuse.
The first of the government's controversial military-style boot camps begins on Monday, with 10 young people aged 15 to 17 due to take part in the pilot programme.
The repeat young offenders will be held at Oranga Tamariki's Palmerston North youth justice facility for the first three months before being reintroduced to the community with whānau involvement and one-on-one support from the same mentor.
It will be less than a week after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state and faith-based care was released, which includes details of abuse in boot camps in the 1990s.
On Wednesday night, as survivors of abuse piled into Parliament's public gallery to hear MPs address the horrors its report contained, the biggest cheer went to Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick when she mentioned the boot camp policy.
It was clear from the reaction of survivors that they did not favour the government's policy.
The Labour Party has also said it will fight coalition policies - such as youth boot camps - on behalf of survivors of abuse.
Deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni said survivors wanted these types of camps to be a thing of the past.
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour and Minister for Children Karen Chhour look at the type of footwear youth at the new military academy pilot will receive. Photo: RNZ / Rachel Helyer-Donaldson
Speaking to Checkpoint, Chhour said what survivors went through in boot camps in the 90s was "traumatic" and "horrendous".
She said young people were isolated on an island with those in charge carrying weapons and having full control. There was no way for the young people to tell anyone what was happening.
It was unacceptable - "but that is not what we are doing".
Chhour said the government would be open and transparent about the boot camps it was starting.
"I think we've proven that already by letting media in to see exactly where these young people will be and showing them some of the activities that these young people will be involved in."
When asked if she could guarantee young people would not be at risk of abuse in the boot camps, she could not.
"What I can guarantee is that it will be open, transparent, with the ability of Mana Mokopuna, the ability of the Ombudsman, the ability of the Independent Children's Monitor to show up at any time with no notice to make sure that these young people are safe, and I encourage them to do that as much as they feel necessary."
Chhour said there would never be no risk - no matter where these young people were - but that everything had been put in place to make sure the risk was as low as possible.
"If it does [happen] and somebody sees something, they say something and we action as quickly as we possibly can."
Chhour denied it was tone deaf to begin the programme less than a week after the Royal Commission report's release, saying she wanted to make real change for young people.
"What I saw when I took over as minister was absolutely horrendous, the situations that these kids are sitting in with absolutely no hope of a future, versus someone coming in, giving them some rehabilitation, wrapping around with all their needs, making sure when they transition back into the community they have that support for months on end, is way better than the option that they had before."
Chhour said she was horrified to know abuse of children in state care continued to this day - and she was doing all she could to change that.
Kids had been "ignored for decades" and it was not something that could be fixed in nine months, she said, but she was proud of the differences she had made so far.
