Government advisory group recommends effective homelessness ban but Cabinet is not so sure
The rumours about a ban on homelessness began swirling on Tuesday, when Labour began asking questions in the House. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The Labour Party and several community groups are accusing the Government of considering what amounts to an effective ban on homelessness.
A proposal for something like a move-on order – the ability for police to order someone to leave for a period of time because of antisocial behaviour – is in the system, however it is at the very beginning of the policy process and may never make it to Cabinet, nor has it been circulated around the full coalition.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith confirmed a proposal for a move-on order is among the recommendations delivered to ministers by the Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime, chaired by Sunny Kaushal.
Kaushal has not returned requests for comment.
So far, that is as far as the idea has gone.
The policy hasn’t been included in any Cabinet paper, which would most likely need to be agreed by the four ministers with responsibility for the issue, Goldsmith, Police Minister Mark Mitchell, Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka.
“I think everybody’s conscious of the fact that in terms of the CBD in Auckland, there’s a lot of antisocial behaviour and widespread concern amongst people who live there and work there,” Goldsmith said.
“We’ve had some suggestions from the retail advisory group, and we’ve made no decisions yet and all options are on the table,” Goldsmith said.
Asked whether a move on order was recommended by the group, Goldsmith said it was.
The rumours began swirling on Tuesday, when Labour began asking questions in the House about whether the Government was considering a ban on homelessness.
Mitchell fuelled some of the speculation on Wednesday morning, telling the Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB: "Paul Goldsmith and justice are doing a lot of work around that.
“He’s got his advisory group that are bringing ideas forward and you’ve got Ryan Hamilton’s bill, which is in the biscuit tin, which is fully supported by caucus and the Prime Minister.”
National MP Ryan Hamilton’s Member’s Bill is in the ballot, which would give police the ability to move people on from an area if their presence was causing distress, disorder or a nuisance.
As with most Member’s Bills, it already has the support of the National caucus, which would include the four ministers charged with drawing up a Cabinet paper.
If Goldsmith and his colleagues were to draft a proposal, it would need to go out to consultation with coalition partners Act and NZ First.
Sources in these parties seemed unaware of a move-on order proposal, only hearing about it on Tuesday when Labour leader Chris Hipkins started probing Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about it in the House.
If the two coalition partners agreed on the proposal, it could then be drafted into legislation and passed. However, it is not clear that they do.
“It seems to be the Labour Party knows more about it than we do,” Act leader David Seymour said on his way into the House on Wednesday.
“You might have heard Chris Luxon, the Prime Minister, in Question Time yesterday say, ‘look, we don’t have any Cabinet discussion about this’ – I certainly haven’t heard any Cabinet discussion about this when I’ve been there, which is all the time,” Seymour said.
When asked whether he would back such a proposal, Seymour sounded a note of scepticism.
“I ask the question, ‘what happens next?’ ... if you ban homelessness, where do people actually go and that’s why I said are you better to build homes, engage community housing providers and get people a place to go – that’s what actually works,” he said.
On Tuesday, Luxon told Parliament there had been “no Cabinet decisions or discussion” on the topic.
On Wednesday, he told reporters the Government was in discussion with “lots of different stakeholders” in Auckland to improve the state of the city centre.
“Move-on orders would be one of the things that you’d want to be considering. But obviously ... you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got the right support structures in place to support people as well.”
A move-on order may still make it to Cabinet but it is likely to only be included in a package of homelessness measures and to be targeted mainly at anti-social behaviour, rather than rough sleeping.