Community urges retail crime group to focus on youth offences before dissolution

Organisations representing small businesses have expressed concern about the early termination of the ministerial advisory group on retail crime announced by Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith on Tuesday.

Created in September 2024 for a period of two years, the group has faced criticism from the Labour Party on spending.

Three out of the original five members have resigned in recent months, with Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young publicly questioning the leadership of chair Sunny Kaushal as she departed.

Goldsmith, who had earlier defended Kaushal's leadership and the advisory group's work, confirmed Tuesday the entity would wind up in May.

News of this development sparked concern among retailers that the advisory group wouldn't have time to make any recommendations on ways to reduce youth crime before it disbanded.

After police arrested a 14-year-old on suspicion of stabbing a dairy owner in Christchurch in December, Kaushal told RNZ his team would start work on youth offences soon.

"We have delivered five reports so far to government proposing law changes - from shoplifting, to trespass, to citizens' arrest and move-on orders," Kaushal said, indicating the group's next priority was youth offences.

"I can't comment on specific measures at this time, but I am personally concerned about how we deal with parents who have created an environment that contributes to their children offending," he said in December.

In a subsequent interview with the New Zealand Herald on Tuesday, Goldsmith didn't suggest that youth crime was a priority.

"It's been very successful in getting all the work done, and they've got a couple of issues that they're going to wrap up before they finish, which is one on facial recognition and the other one on the security industry," he said.

Goldsmith clarified that remark on Friday, saying the government was "particularly interested in advice around facial recognition and the security industry".

"However, any additional advice the [ministerial advisory group] wishes to provide before it concludes its work is always welcome," he said.

Nevertheless, retailers expressed concern that the group's work on youth offences would be left unfinished.

Jaspreet Singh Kandhari, general secretary of the New Zealand Indian Business Association, said his organisation had made a submission to the group with suggestions to tackle violent youth crime.

"The disbanding of the ministerial advisory group following some members' resignations raises concerns about the future direction of key elements within the framework under review," Kandhari said.

"In particular, the proposed reforms relating to youth offending are crucial and provide a significant opportunity to enhance deterrence and community safety.

"We urge the justice minister to ensure the substantial work and progress already made are not lost, and meaningful steps are taken within the next three months, before the end of the electoral term, to advance youth offending law reforms."

Dairy and Business Owners Group chairperson Ankit Bansal, the National Party's Palmerston North candidate at this year's general election, also called for "meaningful action" on youth crime.

"Retailers are expecting meaningful recommendations to address youth crime as we know that the young people are used by organised criminals to commit crimes on their behalf," Bansal said.

"I am sure the advisory group is already working on and will be using the rest of their time to come up with potential solutions in this space of tackling violent youth crime in the retail sector."

Jagjeet Singh Sidhu, secretary of community business organisation Little India, said the advisory group's termination meant issues such as youth crime and youth education would be left unresolved.

"[That's why] our organisation is not happy with the government shutting down the advisory group before it could complete its work, especially in the violent youth crime space," Sidhu said.

"We had specifically put in our submission to amend the Sentencing Act 2002, Crime Justice Act 1985 and Oranga Tamaki Act 1989 to allow for the arrest, detention in remand custody and punishment of young offenders under the age of 16."

Sidhu said the Indian community would like to see recommendations on the above before the advisory group was wound up in May.

Mark Scherer, general manager of the Sandringham Business Association, criticised the work done by the advisory group.

"We do not agree with many of the recommendations and have been dissatisfied with the overall deliverables from the advisory group," Scherer said.

"We will be writing to them to express our concerns over this process and concrete steps going forward."

Himanshu Parmar, who alongside Kaushal is one of the remaining members on the advisory group, said the pair would continue to work on youth crime through to the group's termination and had sent a consultation document to retailers before Christmas.

He said many large and small retailers had already made submissions and the group was now waiting for its policy team to prepare an information pack for members to review and comment on.

Parmar said youth crime remained one of the most pressing issues that were typically raised by retailers.

"You ask any retailer, big or small," he said. "They'll tell you how a very small number of youth offenders are terrorising everyone. They're seeing the same small cohorts committing repeated crime. If we don't come up with good lawmaking in this space, it's just going to keep repeating itself."

When asked whether the advisory group would make submissions to the government on youth crime before its term ended in May, Parmar said the decision rested with the chair and ministers.

"I'm just a moving part of the group," he said. "It's up to the chair and the ministers to make sure it gets submitted and picked up.

"Anything we submit now can't immediately become law. It's a big process. There's already stuff in front of select committees, including work we submitted earlier on trespass laws and shoplifting fines," he said.

"But it's my sincere hope that any policy work regarding youth crime is picked up by the current government and future governments, because it's too important to ignore."

Kaushal also said the group's focus would shift to youth crime.

"We know youth crime is a priority for retailers, and we are working with ministers to complete our work programme before we wrap up in May," he said.

"We would be happy to submit our report before May, as we are working closely with the minister."

Kaushal dismissed criticism from some quarters that the advisory group had failed to deliver satisfactory results.

"I am very proud of the progress achieved and quality of the policy work produced," he said.

"We have delivered faster than expected in terms of five high-quality reports [that] are major reform packages.

"These are strong, practical, evidence-based reports backing the government's focus on law and order, and a zero-tolerance approach to retail crime."