Communities were aware of the problems at-risk youth faced and held the solution to those problems, those attending a Dunedin meeting this week heard.
New Zealand First MP Tracey Martin, of Warkworth, spoke to two dozen people during an informal discussion about at-risk youth, held at Community House, in Dunedin.
Mrs Martin, New Zealand First's youth spokeswoman, explained the party's preferences for dealing with youth problems. She said rather than the Government dictating which agencies should be involved and how, it was often sensible for each community to take the lead.
"In terms of youth at risk, there is no silver bullet. We believe that communities know their problems, they have the answers within them, and what we need to do is to focus the funding and focus the resources to allow the communities themselves to fix their problems," she said.
A new Government strategy involved "stretching" Ministry of Social Development funding across an initiative similar to "the Otorohanga model", she said.
She did not think it would work nationwide.
"It's taking funding away from community-based programmes in communities that are currently working. The Government is hiring one provider to cover a whole lot of towns and, in our opinion, that won't work."
