New ACT Party leader Jamie Whyte says the three strikes and you're out sentencing laws should be extended to include burglary.

Photo: RNZ

In his first address to supporters, Dr Whyte told the party's annual conference in Auckland that burglaries should be treated as seriously as violent offences.

The three strikes law now applies to 40 serious violent offences, for which offenders convicted for a third time automatically receive the maximum sentence, with parole only in exceptional circumstances.

Dr Whyte said burglaries are a very personal invasion of property and there needed to be a greater deterrent to the crime.

He said ACT would also continue with its policy to scrap the entire Resource Management Act.

Dr Whyte also apologised to the party for comments he made in an interview this week on incest. He said he forgot briefly that he was the leader of a political party and not a philosophy lecturer.

Dr Whyte was elected last month as the new leader, replacing Epsom MP John Banks, who is not contesting the next election as he fights a charge of making a false electoral return.