Youth prison 'forced on suburb to help MP'

The Government was today accused of forcing a youth offenders unit on a Hamilton suburb to help Labour MP Martin Gallagher win Hamilton West in last year's election.

Steven Alsemgeest and Louise Milne today told MPs that there was overwhelming community opposition to build a youth offenders' unit in Hillcrest, in the Hamilton East electorate.

Mr Alsemgeest told the law and order select committee that the Corrections Department had been considering a site in Melville -- Hamilton West -- but overwhelming opposition in the area led to a search for alternatives.

The influence of Mr Gallagher and the then Justice Minister Phil Goff led to the Hillcrest site being put up as an alternative and "almost certainly saved his parliamentary seat in the process".

Mr Alsemgeest agreed with a suggestion from a National MP that the decision on the Hillcrest site was made to help Mr Gallagher hold on to his seat.

The Hillcrest residents had been assured that the unit would only be built if there was community support for it, but it was being constructed despite overwhelming opposition.

Hillcrest was safe, peaceful "middle class suburban NZ" and "they want to put a borstal in the middle of it".

Mr Alseemgeest said the decision making process had been a sham, the Hillcrest decisions was "always a done deal".

Labour MPs said a lot of misleading and scaremongering information had been spread around Hillcrest, but Mr Alsemgeest denied being behind it.

They said many of the residents of the proposed unit were living in the Waikato area anyway and there was no added risk to residents.

Mr Alsemgeest was speaking on behalf of 1109 people who signed a petition opposing the Justice Ministry's Te Hurihanga unit, a residential home for up to eight youths aged between 14 and 17 years old.

The committee was told the unit would be fenced, but Mr Alsemgeest said it would house serious repeat offenders and was described as non-secure by the Justice Ministry.

- NZPA