A senior cabinet minister is playing down the recent rise in retail crime.

Latest Police figures show retail crime is on track to break records this year - with 45,000 retail crimes were reported in the first four months of this year.

Only about 1,000 arrests were made.

National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking he believes the numbers.

But Labour's Megan Woods says the numbers may not tell the full story, as many of the crimes may have been minor.

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