KEY POINTS:
It seems one summit is not enough for the National Government, with a "crime summit" now called to go with today's one on jobs.
Justice Minister Simon Power said he would host the meeting in April, which would discuss "the drivers of crime".
Mr Power said it would involve individuals and groups across the justice sector and was aimed at "building consensus around the need to address the drivers of crime".
"Compared to the ongoing debate about what to do with the offenders afterwards, I believe it is something we can all come together on," he said.
Mr Power said the meeting, which would be held at Parliament in April, would mean coming to some agreement about the most influential drivers for the Government to target.
The minister indicated yesterday that alcohol and the Maori crime rate were drivers that would be "priority areas" for the Government.
Mr Power said he would continue with the Sale and Supply of Liquor and Liquor Enforcement Bill introduced by the Labour Government that would give communities a greater say over when, where and how liquor could be sold.
He had also asked the Law Commission to speed up its review of liquor laws.
Mr Power said Maori were over-represented in criminal offending, and "anything we can do to reduce Maori offending will have a positive impact on the overall crime rates".
He said another problem was the fragmentation of data. He had ordered officials to make the data available in one place, as a research resource for researchers, journalists and the public.
