Latest news with #CaseyCostello
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
New Zealand authorities investigating over 40 trafficking offences
The current 42 active investigations had elements of trafficking. Photo: 123RF Authorities have more than 42 active investigations underway into suspected trafficking offences. Associate Immigration Minister Casey Costello said the government is 'not sitting on its laurels' about the extent of the cross-border and domestic issue. RNZ reported in March trafficking investigations had increased by almost 4000 percent , but no-one had been prosecuted since 2018. The figures show there were only six investigations from 2018 to 2020, and 236 in the two years up to last October. The current 42 active investigations had elements of trafficking, said Costello, who took over responsibility for work against organised crime, including trafficking, earlier this year. She said people were becoming desensitised to exploitation, trafficking and slavery - and were conflating it with issues such as being paid under the table or not getting holiday pay. The victimisation was often unseen and the enormity of trafficking was often not understood, she said. The last trafficking case to be prosecuted was in 2020, when Hastings-based Joseph Auga Matamata was jailed for 11 years after bringing 13 Samoans to New Zealand and exploiting them over 25 years. An unknown number of children have been brought from overseas and been sexually or financially exploited, or used as household slaves . Costello said she is hopeful that fixes to international adoptions, where children have been exploited after being brought into the country without checks , will happen before the end of this parliamentary term. But she remains unconvinced about how effective legislation would be in forcing companies to check their supply chains for modern slavery, a recommendation from the Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational, Serious and Organised Crime. "We have heard that it is highly likely that serious criminal exploitation, such as people trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation, is underreported and growing within New Zealand," said the group in its latest report. "There are almost certainly exploited migrants in our horticulture, construction, beauty services and hospitality sectors." Associate Immigration Minister Casey Costello. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver It recommended 'high-risk industries' to actively identify, prevent, mitigate and account for the integrity of their supply chains, and making them subject to legal liability and regulatory enforcement similar to workplace health and safety. Organised crime is the theme of today's World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and INZ said criminal networks were often behind trafficking. "Frontline staff, particularly at the border, are trained to help them recognise indicators of trafficking in persons. We also support the training of law enforcement officials to recognise suspected trafficking in the community," INZ said. "When a report is made, we assess the information provided. Victims of trafficking are eligible for access to support services from the government including from the Ministry of Social Development, the health sector, and INZ." It points out warning signs that a person may need help, including migrants living at their place of work, locks on the outside of doors, people who have 'rehearsed' statements and stories, or do not have money or ID, which might suggest their passport is being withheld. The latest ministerial advisory group report recommends clarifying the mandates between MBIE and Police for taking the lead on human trafficking offences to improve effectiveness, and called for MBIE to update its systems and processes. In September 2018, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and US jointly launched the Principles to Guide Government Action to Combat Human Trafficking in Global Supply Chains, including in private sector supply chains and government procurement practices. The five-year New Zealand plan of action against forced labour, people trafficking and slavery expires this year. Out of its annual implementation reports, only two were published, in 2021 and 2022. One of the measures was visas for certified victims to work and/or stay in New Zealand. Thirteen Victims of People Trafficking residence (and 33 temporary work) visas were approved in 2020/21, three the year after but none since. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
16 hours ago
- Health
- Scoop
HTP Change Aimed At Stopping Smoking
Hon Casey Costello Associate Minister of Health The Government's move to reduce the excise on Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) is about getting more people to quit smoking, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said today. 'The Labour Party and some people in RNZ are fixated on tobacco companies,' Ms Costello says. 'What Ayesha Verrall has said about the cost and benefit of this policy is completely untrue. 'We want people to stop smoking, and the contingent liability forecast by Treasury will only happen if a lot of people quit smoking and the Government's revenue from tobacco excise reduces significantly because of this. 'Obviously if that happens it's a good thing for smoking rates and peoples' health. Last year, a change was made to halve the excise duty on heated tobacco products (HTPs) to see if that might encourage cigarette smokers to switch to a less harmful product. There was to be an evaluation of the change after a year, but because of vaping regulation changes, HTP devices were withdrawn from the market for some of the year. HTPs are now back on the market and the review has been extended to July 2027 as there will be more data available. Last year's cabinet paper included preliminary modelling from the Ministry of Health showing 7,200 people quitting smoking in the first two years from the excise change. It also included estimates of the potential costs from reduced revenue from tobacco excise from people no longer smoking, and from the excise reduction on HTPs. These were included in the Budget documents as contingent liabilities to recognise the potential impact on the Government's accounts. 'What Labour and RNZ are saying is incredibly misleading,' Ms Costello says. 'To be absolutely clear, this is no 'tax break' for the industry. 'I said at the time and continue to say that our drive is to stop smoking. We are trying to see if HTPs can play a similar role to vaping and provide an alternative product and way to quit for smokers. 'We've made great progress in reducing smoking rates and with particular groups like young people and most smokers are now long-term and older and we need to try different ways to help them. 'While a full evaluation of this policy is two years away, I have asked the Ministry of Health to ensure that the excise reduction in HTPs continues to be passed on to consumers.' The Ministry of Health has also established an expert advisory group to look at improving the regulatory regime around all nicotine and tobacco products. The group includes representatives from Health Coalition Aotearoa, ASH, Vape Free Kids, Cancer Society, Heart Foundation, Hāpai te Hauora, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, Auckland and Otago Universities and other experts and is due to report to the Minister before the end of the year.
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Gangs Are Going Global And So Is The Illegal Gun Trade – NZ Can Do More To Fight It
, University of Waikato According to the Global Organised Crime Index, international criminal activity has increased over the past two years. And the politically fractured post-pandemic world has made this even harder for nations to combat. New Zealand is far from immune. According to official advice in late March to Minister of Customs and Associate Minister of Police Casey Costello: The threat posed by organised crime in New Zealand has increased substantially in the last five years. Even with the best of will, New Zealand is losing the fight. New criminal groups are becoming active here – from Burma via Malaysia, to the Comancheros and Mongols gangs. Each brings new networks, violent tactics and the potential to corrupt institutions in New Zealand and throughout the Pacific. As of October 2024, the national gang list contained 9,460 names. While there is debate about the accuracy of the figures, gang membership has grown considerably. This is fuelled by the global trade in illegal drugs, with local criminal profits conservatively estimated at NZ$500–600 million annually. The one relative bright spot is that New Zealand hasn't yet seen the levels of firearms-related violence driven by organised crime overseas. For example, European research shows the illegal trade in guns and drugs becoming increasingly intertwined. But waiting to catch up with those trends should not be an option. New Zealand already has a lot firearms. In the past six years, police conducting routine patrols have reportedly encountered 17,000 guns, or nearly ten every day, nationwide. In 2022, official figures showed, on average, approximately one firearms offence had been committed daily by gang members since 2019. The risk had become apparent much earlier, in 2016, with the discovery of fourteen military assault-grade AK47s and M16s in an Auckland house being used to manufacture methamphetamine. This year, another firearms cache, including assault rifles and semiautomatics, was found in Auckland. Progress and problems On the legal front, the main avenues New Zealand gangs use to obtain illegal firearms are being closed off. Under the Arms Act, members or close affiliates of a gang or an organised criminal group cannot be considered 'fit and proper' to lawfully possess a firearm. These people may have specific firearms prohibition orders added against them, which allow the police additional powers to ensure firearms don't fall into the wrong hands. The firearms registry is key to this. There are now more than 400,000 firearms fully accounted for, making it harder for so-called ' straw buyers ' to onsell them to gangs. Despite the progress, several challenges remain. In particular, the nature of the gun registry has been politicised, with the ACT and National parties disagreeing over a review of the system's scope. Arguments over the types of firearms covered and which agency looks after the registry risk undermining its central purpose of preventing criminals getting guns. Theft of firearms from lawful owners needs more attention, too. Making it a specific offence – not just illegal possession – would be an added deterrent. Tighter and targeted policy Accounting for all the estimated 1.5 million firearms in New Zealand will be very difficult – especially with the buy-back and amnesty for prohibited firearms after the Christchurch terror attack likely being far from complete. There are also tens of thousands of non-prohibited firearms in the hands of unlicensed but not necessarily criminal owners. Given all firearms must be registered by the end of August 2028, there should be another buy-back (at market rates) of all guns that should be on the register. This might be expensive, but the cost of opening a large pipeline to criminals would be worse. There needs to be greater investment in staff, education and technology within intelligence services and customs. This will help inform evidence-based policy, and support targeted law enforcement. A recent European Union initiative to track gun violence in real time is an example of how data can help in this way. New Zealand is a party to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (and its two protocols on people trafficking and migrant smuggling). But it is not a party to a supplementary protocol covering the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms and ammunition. That should change. Amendments to the Arms Act since 2019 mean New Zealand law and policy fit the protocol perfectly. By joining, New Zealand could strengthen regional cooperation and increase public safety, given the scale of the problem and its potential to get worse.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Controversial tobacco tax cut extended
NZ First's Casey Costello is the minister responsible for tobacco policy. Photo: RNZ The tax break for Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) made by Phillip Morris has been extended for an extra two years. In July 2024, the government cut the tax on HTPs in half, in what it said would be a one-year trial subject to an evaluation. But NZ First Associate Health Minister Casey Costello told RNZ the evaluation would now be done in July 2027 and the reduced tax rate would apply to HTPs at least until then. Labour's health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the extension of the tax cut was striking, given the strain on the health system. "This government has the wrong priorities. It is giving tax breaks to tobacco companies now valued at over $300 million and the evaluation they promised, to check that it was helpful, is a total sham." Costello cut the HTP tax rate by 50 percent last year, with the aim that cheaper prices may encourage people to switch from cigarettes to HTPs. The cut was made despite health officials telling Costello there was no evidence HTPs worked to stop people smoking or were significantly safer than cigarettes. Costello told Cabinet she had her own "independent advice" which, when she released it later, turned out to be five articles that were either about different products, outdated, or offered only weak support for her view. Treasury said Philip Morris had a monopoly in the HTP market in New Zealand and would be the main beneficiary of the move. Costello's office told RNZ the tax cut trial would be extended because Philip Morris had to pull its IQOS device from sale last year, as it did not comply with requirements for vaping devices to have a removable battery. Last week, Costello ditched the requirement for removable batteries, saying Cabinet was advised this was the best way to resolve legal action from Mason Corporation, which owns the Shosha vape store chain. A spokesman for the Minister said with HTPs off the market for months last year, the original plan for an evaluation after one year did not make sense. "There wasn't an evaluation because of the withdrawal of HTPs from the market. Any report back would be meaningless as the cheaper HTPs were only available for two months," the spokesman said. "Cabinet agreed to extending the HTP review to July 2027 as there will be more market data available." The spokesman said the evaluation would then be able to show whether "a sustained price reduction encouraged uptake by smokers" and if it had helped reduce smoking. The assessment would also look at whether HTP use "encouraged smokers away from vapes" and the extent of "unintended uptake by young people". A March 2025 Ministry of Health (MOH) briefing to Costello, focused on how to evaluate the HTP tax cut, said Philip Morris had not initially passed on the excise reduction to consumers. "There was no price change passed through to customers for the first month, though this is an observation of value in and of itself," the MOH said. The briefing, obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act, said Philip Morris had to pull its IQOS device just three months into the tax cut trial. "All HTP devices were removed from the market in New Zealand due to not meeting new safety regulations. This has meant there have been no HTP devices available for purchase for at least 5 months of the 12-month trial period." Costello has said that HTPs "have a similar risk profile to vapes", but officials from Treasury and Ministry of Health advised her they were much more harmful than vaping. In its March briefing, the MOH told Costello it would be difficult to assess whether people using HTPs had decreased their harm or not. "While we will be able to assess whether the percentage of current or recent smokers who use HTPs increases, we will not be able to track whether those same people were previously using, or likely to use vapes, for example, whether they moved from a safer alternate product to a more harmful one." Verrall said the onus should be on Philip Morris to prove its product was safe. "There is no reason why the government should be running a study for Philip Morris to help get its products used," she said. "This product is not a health product. It is a harmful product." Verrall said the latest update from the Treasury showed the HTP tax cut was forecast to cost up to $293 million if continued until 2029. "It's deeply worrying when our health system is underfunded that the government is giving away $300 million to the benefit of a single company with links to one of the coalition partners," Verrall said. The extension of the tax break for the Philip Morris products comes after RNZ published documents alleging a close relationship between NZ First and the tobacco giant. The documents, released in litigation against US vaping company JUUL, allege Philip Morris pitched draft legislation to NZ First as part of a lobbying campaign for its HTPs. The documents claim Philip Morris corporate affairs staff "reached out to NZ First to try and secure regulation to advantage IQOS". A lobbying firm advising JUUL claimed that NZ First leader Winston Peters had a relationship with Philip Morris and also that "any regulation he champions is likely to be very industry friendly and highly geared towards commercial interests in the sector". Peters did not address the allegations that NZ First received material from Philip Morris, but said RNZ's story was a "tissue of baseless accusations" and that engagement with the tobacco industry was legitimate. "Multiple government departments have themselves proactively reached out to, and met with, 'big tobacco' for direct feedback and advice on tobacco legislation," he said, in a post on X. Health Coalition Aotearoa and Vape-Free Kids want Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to strip NZ First of the tobacco and vaping portfolio but he says Costello is doing a great job.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
A tobacco product tax cut slated for one year has been extended by two
NZ First's Casey Costello is the minister responsible for tobacco policy. Photo: VNP / Louis Collins The tax break for Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) made by Phillip Morris has been extended for an extra two years. In July 2024, the government cut the tax on HTPs in half , in what it said would be a one-year trial subject to an evaluation. But NZ First Associate Health Minister Casey Costello told RNZ the evaluation would now be done in July 2027 and the reduced tax rate would apply to HTPs at least until then. Labour's health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the extension of the tax cut was striking, given the strain on the health system. "This government has the wrong priorities. It is giving tax breaks to tobacco companies now valued at over $300 million and the evaluation they promised, to check that it was helpful, is a total sham." Costello cut the HTP tax rate by 50 percent last year, with the aim that cheaper prices may encourage people to switch from cigarettes to HTPs. The cut was made despite health officials telling Costello there was no evidence HTPs worked to stop people smoking or were significantly safer than cigarettes . Costello told Cabinet she had her own "independent advice" which, when she released it later, turned out to be five articles that were either about different products, outdated, or offered only weak support for her view. Treasury said Philip Morris had a monopoly in the HTP market in New Zealand and would be the main beneficiary of the move. Costello's office told RNZ the tax cut trial would be extended because Philip Morris had to pull its IQOS device from sale last year , as it did not comply with requirements for vaping devices to have a removable battery. Last week, Costello ditched the requirement for removable batteries, saying Cabinet was advised this was the best way to resolve legal action from Mason Corporation, which owns the Shosha vape store chain. A spokesman for the Minister said with HTPs off the market for months last year, the original plan for an evaluation after one year did not make sense. "There wasn't an evaluation because of the withdrawal of HTPs from the market. Any report back would be meaningless as the cheaper HTPs were only available for two months," the spokesman said. "Cabinet agreed to extending the HTP review to July 2027 as there will be more market data available." The spokesman said the evaluation would then be able to show whether "a sustained price reduction encouraged uptake by smokers" and if it had helped reduce smoking. The assessment would also look at whether HTP use "encouraged smokers away from vapes" and the extent of "unintended uptake by young people". A March 2025 Ministry of Health (MOH) briefing to Costello, focused on how to evaluate the HTP tax cut, said Philip Morris had not initially passed on the excise reduction to consumers. "There was no price change passed through to customers for the first month, though this is an observation of value in and of itself," the MOH said. The briefing, obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act, said Philip Morris had to pull its IQOS device just three months into the tax cut trial. "All HTP devices were removed from the market in New Zealand due to not meeting new safety regulations. This has meant there have been no HTP devices available for purchase for at least 5 months of the 12-month trial period." Costello has said that HTPs "have a similar risk profile to vapes", but officials from Treasury and Ministry of Health advised her they were much more harmful than vaping. In its March briefing, the MOH told Costello it would be difficult to assess whether people using HTPs had decreased their harm or not. "While we will be able to assess whether the percentage of current or recent smokers who use HTPs increases, we will not be able to track whether those same people were previously using, or likely to use vapes, for example, whether they moved from a safer alternate product to a more harmful one." Verrall said the onus should be on Philip Morris to prove its product was safe. "There is no reason why the government should be running a study for Philip Morris to help get its products used," she said. "This product is not a health product. It is a harmful product." Verrall said the latest update from the Treasury showed the HTP tax cut was forecast to cost up to $293 million if continued until 2029. "It's deeply worrying when our health system is underfunded that the government is giving away $300 million to the benefit of a single company with links to one of the coalition partners," Verrall said. The extension of the tax break for the Philip Morris products comes after RNZ published documents alleging a close relationship between NZ First and the tobacco giant . The documents, released in litigation against US vaping company JUUL, allege Philip Morris pitched draft legislation to NZ First as part of a lobbying campaign for its HTPs. The documents claim Philip Morris corporate affairs staff "reached out to NZ First to try and secure regulation to advantage IQOS". A lobbying firm advising JUUL claimed that NZ First leader Winston Peters had a relationship with Philip Morris and also that "any regulation he champions is likely to be very industry friendly and highly geared towards commercial interests in the sector". Peters did not address the allegations that NZ First received material from Philip Morris, but said RNZ's story was a "tissue of baseless accusations" and that engagement with the tobacco industry was legitimate. "Multiple government departments have themselves proactively reached out to, and met with, 'big tobacco' for direct feedback and advice on tobacco legislation," he said, in a post on X. Health Coalition Aotearoa and Vape-Free Kids want Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to strip NZ First of the tobacco and vaping portfolio but he says Costello is doing a great job. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
