A Ministerial Advisory Group will be established to engage with victims of retail crime and advise the Government on how to reduce offending, which ministers claim will help them achieve their targets to reduce the number of violent crime victims and youth crime.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee made the announcement in Auckland today.

They revealed Indian community leader Sunny Kaushal, also the Dairy & Business Owners Group chairman, would also chair the advisory group.

In 2017, Kaushal joined the National Party having previously contested two elections as a MP for Labour.

Dairy and Business Owners Group chair Sunny Kaushal. Photo / Jed Bradley 

Kaushal had been a prominent advocate of more support for small retail businesses experiencing crime in Auckland particularly. He had been a strong critic of the former Labour Government concerning its approach to rising violent and youth crime.

Goldsmith said Kaushal had a “wealth of experience” he would bring to the advisory group. Members of the group would be selected through a “targeted expression-of-interest process”, McKee said.

Goldsmith said the group would “engage directly with victims, workers, business owners, retail experts and advocacy groups over the next two years to provide the Government specific proposals to address urgent challenges in retail crime”.

He and McKee claimed the group would help the Government achieve its targets to have 20,000 fewer victims of violent crime and 15 per cent less serious youth offending by 2029.

Goldsmith said it had been estimated the cost of crime on retailers was at least $1 billion. He noted retailers themselves estimated it could be as high as $2.6b.

He said the advisory group’s purpose was not just “further discussion” but to give Government’s proposals that would “make a real difference”.

He said he wanted the group to be “powerful”.

The group would be funded $1.8m per year for the next two years. The cost would be funded through the Proceeds of Crime fund.

The group was expected to come up with its first proposals to take to Government within the next couple of months.

Asked why the Government was setting up another working group - something National criticised the former Government for - Goldsmith said there was a problem with retail crime currently and he argued such a group was necessary.

The group would have four or five other members.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announcing a new Ministerial Advisory Group to deal with retail crime. Photo / Ben Dickens 

Kaushal said he had been an advocate for the retail sector for a long time before he joined the National Party, claiming he had held previous National-led Governments to account on matters relating to retail crime. 

He said he was grateful to the ministers for being appointed chairman and believed the current Government was approaching the issue of crime seriously. 

On what policies he might push for, Kaushal said reporters would be the first to know about the first proposal which he said would be in the first few weeks. He also said the group would have key performance indicators. 

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, centre, with Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee and new Ministerial Advisory Group chair Sunny Kaushal. Photo / Ben Dickens 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon set law and order as a priority for the Government in the current quarter. 

“The Government I lead is one of action and we are already making meaningful changes that will keep Kiwis safe in their homes, workplaces and communities,” Luxon said when he launched the plan earlier this month. 

“The 40 actions in the Q3 plan span the Government’s core priorities to rebuild the economy, deliver better public services and infrastructure, but a significant focus is on restoring law and order. 

“This includes passing four laws that will crack down on criminal activity and support offenders to turn their lives around.” 

The Government has pledged, this quarter, to give police tough powers to go after gangs by restricting their ability to associate and banning gang patches in public, to give police more power to get guns out of the hands of criminals, to increase access to effective rehabilitation for prisoners on remand, and to improve efficiency in the courts and increase access to justice. 

The Government also plans to introduce legislation to “toughen up sentencing and ensure there are real consequences for crime” and to launch its military-style academy pilot for serious and young offenders. 

The coalition has been attacked for aspects of its law and order crackdown. Academic studies on boot camps have questioned their efficacy, arguing it’s the quality of support and programmes that makes a difference, rather than whether the support is delivered via a boot camp. 

The last boot camps under a National-led Government had reoffending rates north of 80%. 

As for the anti-gang laws, Ministry of Justice officials were scathing not only in saying there was no evidence they would work, but they could make matters worse. The independent evidence from Australia is also hardly an endorsement: the powers were often used against non-gang people, including the homeless, young and indigenous.