Labour's Willow-Jean Prime made several claims in a select committee. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime’s public claims about fight clubs and “significant” meth use in youth justice facilities couldn’t be substantiated by Oranga Tamariki officials.
The Children’s Commission, which independently monitors the facilities, is also unaware of meth in the residences and hasn’t heard of fight clubs occurring since 2023.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has asked for more information, but Prime has been unable to provide anything, other than saying her concerns were based on information from a credible source.
Prime is standing by her approach of raising the claims publicly as she believes it is her role to highlight potential issues and give voice to those who don’t feel comfortable using official channels. She says she’s also spoken and written to the Children’s Commissioner about the matter.
“As the spokesperson for children, I feel strongly that it is my duty to speak up on behalf of their welfare and to hold the minister accountable,” she told the Herald.
The Herald has obtained three letters between Prime and Chhour sent in the weeks after the Labour MP made the claims at the Social Services and Community select committee on June 18 about fight clubs and meth use.
During that session, Prime asked about funding in this year’s Budget for safety improvements in youth justice residences, including to address “critical safety risks”.
She wanted to know why this was necessary considering Chhour said last year that work had been done to bring facilities up to a standard she was comfortable with and she was confident young people were now safe.
The minister responded by saying change wasn’t achieved overnight and she was wanting to constantly invest “in the right places to make this sustainable and enduring”.
Prime then asked whether the minister was aware of “fight clubs” and “significant methamphetamine use” in the facilities and asked “What is in your Budget to address this?”
Chhour responded that she wasn’t aware of either, but told Prime “if you are aware of those kinds of situations happening, I would urge you to come and let me know about that”.
“Sure, will do,” Prime said.
Chhour went on to say the risks being addressed included staff previously not being listened to and contraband being brought into facilities. She has previously announced legislation to introduce new search provisions to reduce the risk of unauthorised items entering residences.
The letters show that about a week after that session, Chhour wrote to Prime to “follow up” about her questions.
“I am writing to reiterate my invitation to you and urge you to approach these issues with the seriousness they deserve given the health and wellbeing implications for the young people within the residences.”
She asked Prime to provide information around what prompted the questions “so that my office is able to follow up with Oranga Tamariki”.
On July 3, Prime responded saying she asked about fight clubs and meth as “I wanted to understand if these were the critical safety issues that received funding in Budget 2025 to address”.
“My questions were based on information from a credible source that I trust. I had expected that you would follow up with Oranga Tamariki based on the questions that I asked during the select committee Estimates Hearing. I certainly encourage you to do so now.”
She said the well-being of young people “is always my primary concern”.
Chhour wrote on July 14 confirming her office “did follow up straight away” with Oranga Tamariki.
“My officials advised me they have a range of measures in place to reduce that risk, but are not aware of any recent incidents matching that description, so are unable to investigate or intervene further.”
She said she appreciated Prime wanted to protect her source, “however without more information it is challenging for Oranga Tamariki to take action”.
“Please encourage them to report any incidents involving this kind of harm to young people to Oranga Tamariki, or Police, or consider utilising the Protected Disclosures Act 2022 if necessary.”
Speaking to the Herald, Chhour said her focus was on ensuring children’s safety.
“If there is an issue or a concern around the safety of young people, I would hope that politics would be put aside and the young people’s safety would be put first,” she said.
The minister suggested Prime could have taken a different approach with her question if she wanted to raise it publicly.
“The question could be asked in a completely different manner of, ‘I’m hearing of concerns of this happening’ rather than ‘do you know about this’.”
While Chhour said Prime did not contact her after the select committee, despite her invitation, the minister said she asked staff to look into the situation.
However, officials couldn’t substantiate Prime’s comments, Chhour said.
“We’ve gone out, we’ve asked questions, we’re looking. But unless we have a real focus on where to look, it’s very hard, especially if people aren’t speaking up, which is my message here. Please speak up.”
She is not aware of any disclosures since she wrote to Prime.
Chhour acknowledged incidents of youth fighting have happened in the past “prior to me being minister”, but she couldn’t recall anything similar recently.
She said occasionally illegal drugs were smuggled into residences, “but no, a significant meth use has not been raised with me”.
Prime told the Herald the information was provided by a “trusted source”.
“I asked these questions within the context of the minister’s statement last year claiming she was confident that young people in facilities were now safe and that those issues were no longer happening.
“This year’s Budget then went on to pledge millions for critical safety risks – raising questions about what issues they were addressing. Abuse has been well documented in the history of these facilities, and any concerns that it is continuing must be taken seriously."
Prime said, “We need every confidence that history isn’t repeating itself in state care.”
Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad said she took a close interest in the treatment of children in residences, especially given previous concerns relating to their treatment at Korowai Manaaki.
A report by the commission’s monitoring team stemming from a visit in February last year found instances there of fighting as well as illegal substances, such as cannabis.
However, through the monitoring process, “we have not been made aware of methamphetamine use in youth justice residences, and we have not heard about fight clubs since the leaked footage reported in 2023”.
Video footage in July 2023 showed MMA-style fighting taking place in a youth justice residence. Staff were stood down after the video went public.
Iain Chapman, acting deputy chief executive for Oranga Tamariki’s Youth Justice Services and Residential Care, confirmed the agency was “not aware of any recent incidents relating to significant methamphetamine use or fight clubs within our youth justice facilities”.
“The health, safety and wellbeing of rangatahi in our residences is a constant focus for Oranga Tamariki and we have significant work under way to enhance operational security in these spaces.
“We would encourage anyone with any information about harm to young people in residences to contact Oranga Tamariki or New Zealand Police.”
The letters come after the Herald revealed last week that Prime ignored and then flat-out declined invitations by Education Minister Erica Stanford about NCEA reform despite Labour calling for cross-party consultation.
Prime has since said she could have responded to Stanford to explain why she wasn’t taking up the offers, while Labour leader Chris Hipkins has said his MP has “learned a lot” from the episode.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.