Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is defending her decision not to travel to her local electorate to be with grieving members of the Sandringham community after a man managing a dairy was fatally stabbed.

Ardern, speaking to media from the Chatham Islands where she was visiting for the first time, said she had directly contacted some community leaders concerning the man’s death but said she was wary of disturbing a grieving family.

“It is my local community so I will be looking to be present there as soon as I’m able to, but I’m also very aware there’s a family grieving and there is an active police investigation into a homicide and I do need to delicately balance being in the right place in the right time.”

Ardern rejected any suggestion her not being in Sandringham represented a Government not doing enough to address crime, noting that there was a time and place when the man’s family might want to engage politicians.

“We will continually have to do as much as we can to support our police, which we have - they are the best resources they have ever been.”

Act Party leader David Seymour said Ardern not choosing to be in her Mt Albert electorate where the incident took place showed a “complete lack of judgment”.

“Instead of dropping everything to be in her electorate today and making the response to retail crime a priority, she is on a plane to the Chathams. A trip she could have easily postponed.

“Jacinda Ardern should be in Mt Albert today and nothing should have got in the way of that.”

The dairy worker, who friends described as polite and friendly, had relocated to Auckland from Hamilton only last week to look after the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham while the owners were overseas.

Police say he was stabbed several times 100 metres from the store after he confronted a thief who had stolen the cash register around 8pm on Wednesday.

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The man, who was newly married and in his mid-30s, managed to make it back to the dairy, where emergency services were called, but died from his injuries.

The attacker, who police were still searching for, was described as being dressed in a black shirt, black pants and a black hat, and wore a black and white bandana over his face.

Today, Ardern made her trip to the Chatham Islands, alongside local MP Paul Eagle, Māori Crown Relations (Te Arawhiti) Minister Kelvin Davis, Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty and Under-Secretary to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Rino Tirikatene.

Act leader David Seymour. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Seymour said the man’s death should prompt action from Labour in targeting offenders.

“This should be a turning point where the Government finally takes retail crime as seriously as it deserves.”

Ardern would likely respond to Seymour’s comments when she addressed media from the Chathams later today.

Meanwhile, Police Minister Chris Hipkins was awaiting an explanation from police after it was revealed yesterday the dairy owners had been denied support from a Government initiative that installed fog cannons to protect small retailers against robberies.

Sandringham neighbourhood watch co-ordinator John McCaffery claimed he had been working with the owners since 2017 to get the police to install fog cannons and other security measures, but had been turned down multiple times.

Given the man confronted the thief outside the dairy, it appeared a fog cannon would not have prevented the man’s death.

However, Hipkins said yesterday it was “not clear” to him why the dairy wasn’t approved for a fog cannon and wanted to know why.

“Based on what I can see, that business should have qualified so I’ve asked for an explanation [from police] as to why they didn’t get a fog cannon.”