“Indian Community is disappointed and angry” says Ginny Andersen
Venkat Raman
Auckland, October 4, 2024
The Ministerial Advisory Group set up by the government to advise on measures to reduce retail crime has thus far produced nothing, angering the Indian community in the process, former Police Minister and Labour List Member of Parliament (Hutt South) has said.
“I hear a high level of disappointment and even anger among the members of the Indian community. They say that this government was elected on the promise that they had all the answers to reducing retail crime. They are upset that the so-called Ministerial Advisory Group has not even started,” she said.
Indian Community victimised
Ms Andersen, who is the Party’s Spokesperson for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Social Investment, Associate Social Development and Associate Spokesperson for Social Development and the Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, agreed that the Indian community, which is in front of retail outlets such as superettes, dairies, liquor stores and graveyard shifts of petrol stations has been severely victimised by increasing criminal activity.
“All of us know the problems and challenges relating to retail crime. The government says that it has all the answers. Therefore, I do not understand the need to establish a Ministerial Advisory Group on Retail Crime. I was shocked when the Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Group met Christchurch MP Dr Duncan Webb (Labour’s Justice and Regulation Spokesperson) and me last week to seek our views. I was shocked because the Group did not seem to know what it should do. After almost three months, the Group is still to draw its Terms of Reference,” she said.
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The Ministerial Advisory Group
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the formation of the Ministerial Advisory Group on July 11, 2024, saying that it 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.”
Mr Goldsmith had said that the Group would have an annual budget of $1.8 million ‘largely paid through proceeds of the Crime Fund.’
But Ms Andersen said that she was not convinced.
“We know that as per the Cabinet Manual, the Chair of the Ministerial Group can claim $920 per day, working up to almost 300 days a year. That would be between $250,000 to $275,000 per year, equivalent to or more than the average salary of a Minister. There can be other claims such as travel, accommodation and allowances. However, many retailers said that the need for ‘urgent advice’ did not match the two-year timeframe, ‘possibly extending to three more years to 2029,’ and that thus far the Group has delivered nothing,” she said.
Ms Andersen claimed that her government (in which she was the Police Minister) had programmes in place that were making a difference.
“It is a shame that the $9 million (that the current government) will be spending on the Ministerial Group could not be put on evidence-based solutions to ensure that offending does not recur. If Labour returns to form the government, I will recommend to my Caucus to evaluate the benefits of this Group,” she said.
Shifting crime scenes
The government has announced that crime rates have dropped in Auckland’s Central Business District (CBD) with increased Police presence but officers have been taken from Northshore, Counties Manukau and other parts of Auckland, Ms Andersen said.
“We still see high rates of retail crime and aggravated robberies happening across the City. My view is that crime has been pushed out of the CBD to other parts. That is not a solution. Post Covid-19, there is a surge in retail crime in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States of America,” she said.
According to Ms Andersen, many theories have emerged to explain this trend, one of which pointed to young people who were exposed to unacceptable levels of family or ‘actual’ violence and the psychological impact on the mental state of others who were forced to stay at home during lockdown periods.
“The way the Covid-19 pandemic was handled across the globe increased the vulnerability of people already in homes,” she said.
The Labour government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark promoted the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007- formerly the Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill. Infamously called, the ‘Anti-Smacking Bill,’ it removed the legal defence of ‘reasonable force’ for parents prosecuted for assault on their children.
The inability of parents to control their children has now led to an increasing number of young people taking to crime, especially in the retail sector.
Drugs and Firearms
Ms Andersen said that two aspects of crime are disturbing – the increase in the production and distribution of Methamphetamine and other harmful drugs and the availability of firearms and the methods of ensuring that criminals do not get access to dangerous arms.
In a recent blog, she said that five years ago the Labour government banned military-style semi-automatic weapons, following the tragic events of March 15, 2019.
“Nobody needs a gun that powerful a weapon (referring to the weapons used by the Australia-born terrorist who killed 51 Muslims including women and children praying at two Mosques in Christchurch on that fateful day) designed to kill people. This ban helps to protect people and alongside the introduction of the Firearms Registry will mean that New Zealand is a safer place. But now the government wants to rewrite New Zealand’s firearms law and regulations,” Ms Andersen said.
“Such changes will make the world more dangerous for small business owners. It is concerning that we have a gun lobbyist now responsible for rewriting our Arms Act. ACT Party MP Nicole McKee was elected on the promise of changing the 2019 Arms Act changes, which includes military-style semi-automatic weapons made available again in New Zealand. There is no reason to have such weapons in our country,” she said.
Ms Andersen also spoke about the increasing family violence and the measures to combat this social menace.
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