Fresh off a quarterly plan with a strong focus on addressing crime, the Government will progress several new pieces of legislation in the law and order space in the remaining months of 2024.

The law and order-related commitments in the Government’s Q4 plan largely involve the introduction of bills into the House before the end of the year, including legislation to address stalking, strengthening consequences for serious young offenders and tightening requirements for child sex offenders.

Also set to be introduced would be a bill to help Government agencies combat foreign interference. The Government had also committed to publishing a second action plan on family and sexual violence.

New powers to address stalking

In April, the police watchdog found the powers police use to assess allegations of stalking were “not fit-for-purpose” after AUT law student Farzana Yaqubi, 21, was murdered in December 2022 having already gone to police with concerns that she was being harassed two months beforehand.

Both Labour and National promised to strengthen legal protections against stalking and harassment during last year’s election campaign.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith had publicly stated his intention to introduce legislation to address stalking by the end of the year. It was unclear when a bill could make it to the House.

While he had given little detail about what the legislation would contain, Goldsmith had pointed to a “great starting point” in the form of a petition from the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children and AVA (Anti-Violence Action).

It urged the Government to criminalise stalking to align with other countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The petition also recommended more police training to assist in recognising stalking and anti-stalking intervention programmes.

Create young serious offender category

The commitment to strengthen consequences for serious young offenders was largely related to National’s pre-election policy to create a new young serious offender category available during sentencing.

National’s policy was intended to capture young people involved in violent crimes such as ram raids and aggravated robberies. It was initially proposed to apply to people between 10-17.

The Government’s legislation would detail how a person could be deemed a young serious offender if they were 14-17 and have committed two offences punishable by imprisonment of 10 years or more.

They would also have to be assessed as being likely to re-offend alongside evidence previous interventions had been unsuccessful.

The category was central to the Government’s military-style academies, also known as bootcamps, that were intended to help rehabilitate young offenders. The legislation committed to in the Q4 plan was necessary to allow judges to send young offenders to a bootcamp.

The Government, through Oranga Tamariki, was currently conducting a pilot of the 12-month bootcamp in Palmerston North’s youth justice facility, Te Au rere a te Tonga.

The 10 participants would conclude their three-month in-facility phase on October 20 before commencing nine months of community-based rehabilitation and training.

Children's Minister Karen Chhour will lead work on a second family violence action plan and new legislation seeking strong consequences for serious young offenders. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

Incidents had been rare, according to Children’s Minister Chhour and Oranga Tamariki. Chhour said one teen left the pilot in its second week for personal reasons but was replaced by another the following week.

The proposal had been widely criticised ahead of the pilot kicking off, given previous iterations of military-style bootcamps had failed to make a significant difference in re-offending levels of participants.

Second action plan on family and sexual violence

Chhour, as the minister responsible for the prevention of family and sexual violence, will lead the Government’s development of a second Te Aorerekura action plan that aimed to eliminate family and sexual violence.

In a speech at the national family violence conference in May, Chhour outlined how the second plan was being worked up by Te Puni Aonui - the joint venture that was formed in 2018 to improve the whole-of-government approach to family violence and sexual violence.

At the time, Chhour said she had asked the second plan to focus on “fewer key actions” that would “drive change in the system and achieve impact on the ground”.

“This is about focus on doing the right things first, and well,” she said.

“I want to ensure we are putting our collective effort into the things that will make the biggest difference now, while also keeping focused on the long term.”

However, earlier in the speech, Chhour recognised the Te Aorerekura national strategy, first launched in 2021, as having cross-government support with the intention to have an inter-generational impact over 25 years.

The first action plan contained 40 actions and ran for three years. The second plan will set priorities for the next five years.

Changes to child sex offender register

The Government’s recently-released bill follows on from work the previous Labour Government attempted to achieve but was unable to do before the 2023 election.

The Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Amendment Bill would place a number of new requirements on registered child sex offenders including:

- reporting if a child is going to be living at the same address as them 48 hours before this occurs, rather than 72 hours after as it stands.

- reporting if they are attending education or training courses.

- reporting if they were leaving New Zealand at least seven days in advance rather than the current 48-hour timeframe

- reporting their return to New Zealand no more than 72 hours after re-entering.

Advice from police noted how non-compliance with the new reporting requirements would threaten the integrity of the register and as such, those who did not fulfil the requirements could face existing punishments, including being fined up to $4000 or imprisoned for up to two years.

Attorney General Judith Collins is set to consider how the bill interacts with the Bill of Rights Act. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

The advice stated the Ministry of Justice was advising Attorney-General Judith Collins on whether the bill complied with the Bill of Rights Act (BORA).

It acknowledged there was potential for the bill to contravene several rights afforded under BORA. However, the advice also mentioned how similar issues had been raised by previous Attorney-Generals regarding amendments to the child sex offender legislation and yet Parliament had passed former amendment bills.

Foreign interference threat to be assessed in new law

The Government was also expected to make announcements shortly about plans to introduce new legislation to help agencies combat foreign interference, though details were scant on what that could encompass.

“The Ministry of Justice is leading work to strengthen criminal responses to foreign interference and espionage activities in New Zealand,” Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said.

“This work contributes to Government’s wider Countering Foreign Interference Work Programme co-ordinated by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet [DPMC].”

Goldsmith said the Government was constantly reviewing settings to “ensure they are fit for purpose”.

“This is important because, as the NZSIS’s 2024 security threat assessment illustrates, the threat environment is evolving at pace.”

That report released by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) last month assessed foreign interference as being an “ongoing concern”.

It contained several real examples of foreign interference observed in New Zealand, including a foreign intelligence service attempting to secretly recruit Kiwis to obtain intelligence for it. It also specifically called out China as being a “complex intelligence concern”.

While New Zealand did have a raft of pieces of legislation intended to dampen foreign actors’ ability to interfere domestically – including in the areas of foreign investment and political donations – officials had admitted there were “gaps” in our ability to respond.

Then-Minister of National Security and Intelligence Chris Hipkins was briefed in 2023 that Ministry of Justice officials were working to “address gaps in the Crimes Act that could curtail our ability to respond to harmful foreign interference”.

Upon assuming the role last November, Christopher Luxon was told his DPMC officials were looking at measures to “promote greater transparency of foreign activity in NZ and the adequacy of relevant criminal offences”.

Luxon on Monday said the Government wanted to “make sure we have got the most up-to-date legal framework and protection that we need to combat foreign interference”.

-NZ Herald.