Get this, they aren’t ‘boot camps’ now (National doublespeak 101)

Boot camps dismissed, by principals
Boot camps for troubled youth are a quick fix that will not stem violence and bullying in schools, experts say. The Principals Federation has called on the Government to reject boot camps. The call follows expert advice given at this week's two-day behaviour summit in Wellington. Federation national president Ernie Buutveld said yesterday the Government should be more considered in its quest to reform the country's troubled youth. "Some of these plans just don't cut the mustard in terms of getting bang for your buck," he said. "In this economic crisis, we need to be careful and listen to the experts. When using public money, it's not wise to rush head-long into anything. "We need to be surer of the end result." Youth Affairs Minister Paula Bennett agreed "boot camps haven't worked in the past which is why we're not doing them". Bennett said the Government approach was to "take the 40 worst young offenders, give them military-style discipline, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, set them up with a mentor, educate them and order them to take a parenting course if needed".

You can’t make this shit up – what did she just say, “boot camps haven’t worked in the past which is why we’re not doing them” – WTF!!!! Throughout the election and throughout the roll out of this programme National have ALWAYS described this course as a boot camp, but after the absolute slagging off from every person with some expertise in this field, National are now claiming they aren’t doing boot camps. This is an absolute u-turn, and note it’s ANOTHER u-turn the mainstream media barely mentions.

Beyond crazy talkback rhetoric, policy needs to be smarter than knee jerk junk like Boot Camps, but to have National quietly doublespeak their way out of a mess of their own making by casually claiming “boot camps haven’t worked in the past which is why we’re not doing them”, when they have bleated for the last 5 months that they would implement boot camps is just too ripe for words.