Chris Hipkins Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is speaking to media after this week's Cabinet meeting.
The government was adding another $11 million into its fog cannon scheme, he said.
"Since it was introduced in November last year, the feedback and rollout of the scheme has been incredibly positive. Small retailers continue to tell us that the scheme is working well and that they feel safer knowing that they are better protected against things like ram raids and burglary."
He said the number of daily applications received had increased dramatically since April.
Many retailers could not afford to fund such equipment on their own, particularly if they were renting premises, Hipkins said.
If weekly approvals remains at the high levels we're seeing at the moment, a further 3350 fog cannons will be subsidised by the end of this year.
The retail crime spike that we have been experiencing is utterly unacceptable. Those business owners and their employees experiencing the spike first hand should not have to be fearful when they go to work.
"Today's announcement is another step forward in supporting those affected businesses who are at risk of those sorts of crime but we are also going to be prioritising other work on this issue and I hope to have more to say on that soon."
Hipkins said he acknowledged the level of concern in the small business community, and said the level of retail crime seen was not acceptable, but "we also have got an unrelenting focus on making sure that we're tackling the causes of that offending".
"We've seen programmes like the Turnaround programme, which is referring young offenders early on now, that has reduced reoffending significantly. So 70 percent of the kids who have ended up in the Turnaround programme haven't gone on to reoffend.
"I acknowledge that we have experienced a spike. The spike is not as high as it was towards the middle of last year, but it's still an unacceptable level - so we've still got more work to do."
He said the programmes were working but did not deliver an instantaneous result.
Hipkins said police advice last year was that those businesses which had been victims and subsequently got a fog cannon installed were less likely to be victimised than those who did not have one.
That suggested it was making a difference and as the scheme was extended, having more businesses with the fog cannons installed meant a larger base for establishing evidence for their use, he said.
In a statement, Police Minister Ginny Andersen said of the 1664 approved applications, some 584 fog cannons had been installed.
"The scheme has proved to be incredibly popular," Andersen said.
"I'm pleased to be able to expand the scheme with an extra $11 million to continue to give eligible retailers across New Zealand certainty that they can get a fog cannon if they need one."
She said she had seen first hand the difference the fog cannons made.
"Fog cannons can help deter ram raids and burglary and reduce the risk of people being harmed. The dense cloud of fog is highly disorienting and prevents attackers from targeting cash, stock, or workers.
"Small retailers have told me the scheme is working well. For many small retailers, the upfront cost of a fog cannon is beyond their budget."
The fog cannon scheme offers retailers like small shops and dairies a $4000 subsidy to install a fog cannon. Eligibility criteria was widened in November after the death of 34-year-old Janak Patel in Sandringham, Auckland.
The retail crime prevention fund was topped up with a further $9m in late April.
At that point just 501 applications had been approved, meaning more than 1100 have won approval in the past six weeks.
Hipkins said since the Budget he and other Labour MPs have been out and about promoting the key cost of living measures in it, and drawing out some of the big differences between the two biggest parties.
He again described National and ACT as the "coalition of cuts".
"One of the legacies of cuts that we inherited from the previous National government was the effect that under resourcing had had on frontline police. When we took office, police numbers were falling. I'm proud of the government's work to turn that around and on Thursday I'll be attending the graduation of police wing 366 which will see us reach our goal of 1800 extra police on the beat."
Funding in the Budget ensures the new ratio of one officer to every 480 New Zealanders will be maintained, which compares to the ratio of one to 544 when Labour came into office.
Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
But was the "popularity" of the fog cannon programme damning?
Andersen told Checkpoint $6m had already been spent on fog cannons for the scheme before this new $11m was added.
But was the need for an expansion of the scheme a disaster for this government?
Asked whether it was tone-deaf to describe the scheme as 'popular' when those taking part did so out of fear for their safety and in response to a wave of sometimes violent crime, she said it was important the government was responding on several fronts.
"It's absolutely unacceptable this increase we've seen in retail crime, particularly ram raids ... I fully acknowledge that we have a problem.
"We are taking action to address this problem, and we're doing that in three main ways - the first way we're doing that is by having more police on the beat, this week we should reach 1800 extra police officers, and this is a measure - the fog cannon scheme, to make those small business owners feel safe in their workplace.
"But it's important that we take the long term game by looking at complex issues that are driving youth offending - family violence, mental health ... looking at programmes like Circuitbreaker, that those young people who are offending - apprehending those and making sure that they have the full response of Oranga Tamariki and police and youth justice, to stop that reoffending occurring. We want to address those long-term challenges to make sure we're not back in the same place in ten years time."
So far 1664 applications for the fog cannons had been approved, but only 582 had been installed.
Wait times depended on how many providers were available in the retailers' area and it was likely those still waiting were in smaller towns away from big cities, so there were less providers and longer waiting times, Andersen said.
Retailers applied through a "simple" online process, and once granted approval could take a voucher to one of "a number" of preapproved providers who could install the fog cannon.
"I've had no complaints that any small business owner who has been approved - they have had no complaints in terms of waiting too long," she said.
"What I hear from those small business owners that I meet with is that once they have a fog cannon installed they do feel safer, they're incredibly effective at deterring crime and they're also very good at stopping theft occurring once they're activated."
Early childhood education criticism 'not really new'
Hipkins was challenged over the government's policy - unveiled in the Budget less than a fortnight ago - of extending the 20-hours-free policy to also include two-year-olds.
While the sector initially supported the plan, organisations representing most of them banded together last week after reading the fine print and finding they could no longer charge copayments for things like food and nappies, or require enrolments for more than 20 hours a week.
They complained the new rules were "unworkable" and had no confidence the Ministry of Education would work with them to resolve their concerns.
Hipkins said the criticism was, however, nothing new.
"These concerns were raised 20 years ago when 20-hours-free was first introduced, so they're not new," he said.
"It's not really new, and it's not really universal."
He said there were a "range of views" within the sector.
"Because the sector is such a diverse sector, I don't think we'll ever land anything that has everybody universally saying 'hip hip hooray', but I think we can resolve most of the issues.
"You've got some very large chains, for example, who find the ability to absorb changes in the funding model relatively simple. Some of the smaller community-based centres if they are employing relatively new and inexperienced teachers will also find it relatively easy.
"If they are employing mostly very experienced and highly qualified teachers, then it's relatively challenging. The challenge for government when you're boiling it down to a per-child, per-hour funding amount that's always going to be difficult."
He said the government would talk with the industry about the design of the funding system.
NZ will consider allowing Ukraine to join CPTPP
Hipkins said New Zealand as the current chair of the CPTPP trade deal would consider allowing Ukraine to join, but he stopped short of supporting such a move.
More countries have expressed interest in joining the deal since the UK did so in March.
Ukraine recently applied, and Canada over the weekend said they would support such a move.
Hipkins said as a trading nation, of course New Zealand wanted more countries included in such deals.
"New Zealand of course at the moment is chairing the CPTPP arrangement," he said.
"With every accession to the the CPTPP, there are issues to work through in terms of what those countries want to protect in terms of existing quota allocations ... but we are certainly open and will facilitate, as the chair, we'll facilitate those conversations."
When he was asked directly if New Zealand would support Ukraine joining the deal, though, he declined.
"We certainly want to support the people of Ukraine, we're open to having that conversation. Until we know exactly what they're asking for ... I don't want to draw lines in the sand."
Four-day working week?
Asked about a four-day working week, Hipkins said "right now I'd settle for a five-day working week".
He said the public sector and - from what he's heard from businesses - in the private sector, many employers were encouraging flexibility like a working-from-home day every week.
"We have focused as a government on making sure that the arrangements for more flexible working conditions do support businesses and workers to have those kinds of discussions. There's a lot of flexibility in our labour market environment and employment laws at the moment."
There were also relatively few legal constraints on what employers could do in that area, he said.
"Even the 40-hour working week isn't as enshrined and protected as it used to be, now, so we would be stepping back to something much more regimented if we were to do that."
He said he was confident the legislative environment could encourage workers and employers to allow for this kind of flexibility and the government's position would be to support that flexibility.
Vaping
Hipkins also said Health Minister Ayesha Verrall was considering proposals to change laws or regulations for vaping.
"I don't think any of us feel that the vaping policy settings at the moment are where they need to be. Cabinet hasn't considered those proposals yet. Again I think we will see more change in that area, I don't want to at this point start ruling things in or out."