The group will be chaired by Steve Symon, a senior partner at Meredith Connell
The government has announced the establishment of a Ministerial Advisory Group to address the threat of transnational and serious organised crime.
Associate Police Minister Casey Costello made the announcement, highlighting the need for a stronger cross-government approach to combating sophisticated criminal enterprises.
“This is an important step to ensuring we have a better cross-government response to fighting the increasing threat posed to New Zealand by international and domestic crime groups,” said Costello in a statement.
The advisory group will focus on enhancing cooperation among government agencies and identifying opportunities to strengthen enforcement measures. It will also address barriers that prevent effective collaboration between various government bodies.
Costello emphasised the need for innovative strategies, likening criminal organisations to businesses and urging a business-like response to disrupt their operations.
“These criminal groups are organised as businesses, and we have to respond accordingly – stopping their product, their supply chains, their use of ‘labour,’ and targeting their money,” Costello explained. “Our ultimate goal is to make New Zealand the hardest place in the world for organised crime to operate.”
The advisory group will be chaired by Steve Symon, a senior partner at Meredith Connell, who has experience advising the multi-agency Transnational Crime Unit. Four other members with expertise spanning government, law enforcement, regulation, and the private sector will join him. The group will operate for approximately eight months, funded through the proceeds of crime fund.
Key priorities for the advisory group include improving information sharing, streamlining investigations and prosecutions, and enhancing frontline collaboration between agencies such as Immigration, Inland Revenue, WorkSafe, and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Costello also pointed to the significant social and economic harm caused by organised crime, citing the estimated $1.5bn in social harm from the illicit drug trade alone this year.
“Organised criminal activity inflicts misery in our communities, harms legitimate businesses, and damages the broader New Zealand economy,” Costello said. “We have a range of regulatory and law enforcement levers available to us, and we need agencies to more effectively use these to dismantle criminal organisations and the sham businesses that front their activities.”
