Organised crime is the “number one” threat to national security and so significant that a government Minister should be put in charge of tackling the problem, according to the latest report from experts advising the coalition.
In recent years, there have been record-breaking drug busts at border as global crime syndicates - including Mexican cartels and outlaw motorcycle groups - have targeted New Zealand as a small but lucrative market.
Police and Customs now routinely intercept enormous drug shipments such as the infamous case where a group of Australian 501 deportees were caught with 501kg of methamphetamine smuggled off the coast of 90 Mile Beach.
The once unfathomable quantity of drugs are now almost routine, as law enforcement have also uncovered ‘insider threats’ at the border, most recently several syndicates of corrupt baggage handlers at Auckland airport.
But despite more drugs being seized than ever before, the consumption of methamphetamine more than doubled in 2024 to the highest levels recorded in wastewater testing nationwide.
In response to the dire trend, a ministerial advisory group was appointed by Cabinet in February to provide the government with advice on how to overhaul the ways in which law enforcement and regulatory agencies work together.
The expert panel has made wide-ranging recommendations to Cabinet Minister Casey Costello on a different organised crime topic each month since March, including corruption, money laundering and poor information-sharing.
A final report to pull together the proposed reforms is expected to be released later this month.
But for those changes, if implemented, to be successful, the expert panel said everyone involved - from the top down - must be held accountable for their performance.
“People across a range of sectors, industries and roles are working hard to play their part. But the system is not optimising their work in the way that it should,” the group’s chairman Steve Symon wrote in the latest report.
“Nor is it holding to account those who are not meeting expectations. It needs to, if we are serious about responding to the threat of organised crime.”
The report described organised crime as the “number one” threat to national security in New Zealand, but the growing risk has not been treated as such by successive governments and agencies.
There is already a national strategy which outlines initiatives, policies and legislative framework to support government agencies.
However, the expert report notes that, five years on, methamphetamine availability is at “unprecedented levels” and the social and economic harm from organised crime - including drugs, fraud, migrant exploitation and cybercrime - have never been higher.
The report notes there are at least 13 different ministers - many with competing interests - who hold some responsibility for delivering the government’s strategy, which has led to a lack of consistency, prioritisation and cohesion.
“Organised crime is sophisticated and adaptive. Our coordination efforts at all levels are fragmented and lack agility,” Symon wrote.
The ministerial advisory group also pointed out that New Zealand has a history of responding to the generational problem of organised crime with short term solutions.
One example given was the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand (OFCANZ), which was established in 2008 with the intention of consolidating enforcement efforts of different government agencies.
However, it was later merged into the police as the National Organised Crime Group, and its broader system-level ambitions were never fulfilled.
“These efforts were well-intentioned but they lacked the sustainable leadership, governance and accountability needed to drive system-wide change. We cannot, as a country, afford to repeat these mistakes,” Symon wrote.
The solution, according to the advisory group, is to appoint a government Minister to focus on organised crime.
“Ministerial priorities heavily influence ‘current state’ agency action. If disrupting organised crime is not seen as a political priority, agencies are less likely to allocate resources or focus attention on it,” Symon wrote.
“Cultural barriers within agencies, such as a belief that organised crime is outside their mandate, also hinder cross-sector collaboration and accountability.”
This proposed ministerial portfolio would need to be backed up by a new oversight body, similar to how the Serious Fraud Office or Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority were established in response to an emerging threat.
With this support, the Minister would be expected to push new laws and policy development, hold agencies to account, lead public awareness campaigns and targeted social investment in vulnerable communities.
No other country in the world has an equivalent Minister for Organised Crime, but the advisory group believed the threat was significant enough to justify the distinct responsibility and New Zealand was “uniquely positioned” to do so.
They went further to say that the complexity of the problem means that the responsibility should not be incorporated into any of the existing ministerial portfolios, such as Police or Customs, although clearly they would have to work closely with those existing ministers.
“In our view, the problem demands and justifies an undistracted voice,” the advisory group wrote.
While the government must drive the response to organised crime, the advisory group said politicians and agencies cannot do it alone.
Private businesses in critical high-risk sectors - such as construction, horticulture and hospitality - should be “doing their bit” to ensure that they are not contributing to organised crime.
This could mean businesses might be required to provide assurances over subcontracting arrangements to prevent and detect fraud, money laundering or migrant exploitation, as well as reporting suspicious behaviours.
While the latest report focused on the lack of cohesion and accountability across government departments, the advisory group made the point that all of New Zealand’s enforcement agencies were highly capable.
“Nothing we say is intended to detract from that. New Zealand should be very proud of the integrity and commitment of our enforcement agencies,” Symon wrote.
“These recommendations are about helping them to be better. Because we cannot, as a country, afford to be speaking to this same problem again when designing a new strategy in five years.”
While the final report is due at the end of the month, the advisory group has already warned the coalition Government that bold changes are needed urgently as New Zealand was “losing the fight” against transnational organised crime, illustrated by how the country was flooded with methamphetamine.
Despite more drugs being seized than ever before, the consumption of methamphetamine more than doubled in 2024 to the highest levels recorded in the national wastewater testing.
Who are the 13 government ministers with ‘responsibility’ for aspects of the national organised crime strategy?
Jared Savage covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006 and has won a dozen journalism awards in that time, including twice being named Reporter of the Year. He is also the author of Gangland, Gangster’s Paradise and Underworld.