Kerre Woodham: Who's going to pay a fine for shoplifting?

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has released a cabinet paper proposing a raft of changes to the Crimes Act. This is part of the coalition agreement with NZ First. It introduces new offences and strengthens existing ones. The proposals include a new strict liability offence for shoplifting, with a $500 infringement fee, doubling to $1,000 if the value of the stolen goods is more than $500.

Matua Kahurangi: Tamatha Paul thinks criminals are victims and Police are the problem

Why the Greens' soft-on-crime ideology is dangerous, deluded, and downright insulting to ordinary New Zealanders

Tamatha Paul, the Green MP and self-appointed spokesperson for the “defund the police” generation, has once again gone viral for all the wrong reasons. In a rambling monologue uploaded by the ACT Party to X, she attacked efforts to clamp down on violent crime, defended shoplifters, and dismissed public safety concerns as if they were a minor inconvenience in her activist utopia