Hon Casey Costello
Associate Minister of Police

The Ministerial Advisory Group on transnational and serious organised crime was appointed by Cabinet on Monday and met for the first time today, Associate Police Minister Casey Costello announced.

“The group will provide independent advice to ensure we have a better cross-government response to fighting the increasing threat posed to New Zealand by international and domestic crime groups,” Ms Costello says.

“These criminal groups are organised as businesses, and we have to address their activities accordingly – stopping their product and their supply chains and their use of ‘labour’ and targeting their money.

“This means there’s a greater role for agencies like ACC, WorkSafe and Inland Revenue to work alongside Immigration, MPI and law enforcement to cooperate and fight organised crime. The way all of these agencies operate and work together will be a focus for the advisory group.”

The advisory group, chaired by Steve Symon, a senior partner at Meredith Connell, has expertise across government and law enforcement, as well as knowledge of the nature of organised crime and the impact it has in New Zealand. There will be four other members, three of whom - Craig Hamilton, John Tims and Jarrod Gilbert - have been appointed. The fourth member will be appointed very shortly.

The group will be in place for eight months and be funded through the Proceeds of Crime Fund.

“The advisory group will provide advice and recommendations on how law enforcement and regulatory agencies can improve enforcement and disruption action,” Ms Costello says.

“We have to do all that we can to stop criminal groups with the ultimate objective of making New Zealand the hardest place in the world for organised crime to operate.

“Organised criminal activity inflicts misery in our communities including driving violent crime, and harms legitimate businesses and the broader New Zealand economy,” Ms Costello says. “The illicit drug trade alone is estimated to have cost the country close to $1.5 billion in social harm last year.

“We have a range of regulatory and law enforcement levers available to us and we need agencies to more effectively use these to support the dismantling of criminal organisations and the sham businesses that front their activities.

“I’m anticipating that the advisory group will look at information sharing between agencies, the way investigations and prosecutions are managed, and how frontline cooperation can be improved.

“Collectively, we can make a step-change in the way Government agencies think about and respond to serious organised crime and make New Zealand safer.”

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