Chris Hipkins says the death of a person following an attack at Auckland's Albany Bus Station yesterday, which has seen a 16-year-old charged with murder, is "a tragedy on every level".
The Labour leader told Breakfast the victim's death was terrible, as well as the fact a teen has been charged with murder.
"Locking them up isn't necessarily going to get a better outcome... we've got to actually focus on what's going wrong in these kids' lives that's leading them to this point," he said.
"We've seen far too many young people involved in violent offending in the last few years. If we look at ram-raids, smash and grabs and even the case that we're talking about this morning.
"Those are absolutely the things that keep me awake at night."
Labour's leader has expressed grief for the victim of an attack at Albany Bus Station in Auckland. (Source: Breakfast)
He said he wanted to understand how young people were "getting into these situations in the first place, and how do we get them back out of it".
"I'm incredibly concerned about any criminal offending, and particularly violent offending.
"We've just got to make sure we're dealing with the dysfunction in their lives if we don't want them to be repeat offenders.
"It's about identifying the most at-risk young people and making sure we're getting support around them.
"They [the public] will be safer when we get these young people engaged in something positive."
Watson feels that an increased police presence has not quashed the safety fears passengers may carry. (Source: 1News)
Albany Ward Councillor John Watson also joined the programme, saying locals and commuters through the North Shore "will be shaken by this".
"Albany's usually a very safe place... having said that, there have been incidents earlier in the year where there have been assaults, knives being carried... we haven't been immune from that and I guess it's a trend that seems to be increasing," he said.
"[The incident] will shake people, people will feel uncomfortable."
He said police have had an increased presence at the bus station following previous incidents, however it has not quashed the fears that passengers carry.
"There was a big meeting and it was on the radar, certainly since then things seemed to have quietened down a bit, but having said that you do hear anecdotally of people not feeling safe... even though they're well supervised."
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