Retail crime board disbanded after Sunny vigilante ram raids public
Retail crime advisory group disbands four months early
- Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime to disband four months early
- Winding up comes after three of its five members resigned
- Group’s spending has come under fire.
The ministerial advisory group charged with tackling retail crime will be disbanded months earlier than planned after a string of resignations.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has confirmed today that the group – which has faced criticism for its spending – will wind up in May.
The Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime was originally set up for two years until September.
Confirmation of its early demise comes after RNZ revealed last month that three of the group’s five members had resigned in recent weeks.
One of them – Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young – said her relationship with chairman Sunny Kaushal had become untenable.
RNZ
This whole debacle has been a failure.
Sunny Kaushal had run a tobacco funded campaign against retail crime that heavily promoted National on social media in the lead up to the 2023 election and lo and behold he gets appointed to this vigilante migrant store holder Tobacco guild thug force that wanted to loosen up the laws around beating shop lifters.
I’m not sure who we should be more afraid of, the shoplifters or the vigilante store owners wanting to bash them.
The conduct, history and disproportionate use of force prompted by this group has been an open joke since it formed.
Ending it now before they could humiliate anyone else is a smart political move by Paul Goldsmith.
Their last report will be some deplorable mass surveillance and facial recognition recommendations that will cement into place powers they never should have had in the first place.
