Sunny Kaushal: I felt ‘stabbed in the back’ by comments from fellow advisory group members

Tuesday, 17 February 2026

The man hired to get solutions to retail crime in front of ministers has hit out at criticisms about the way the Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime operated under his leadership, and claims some of the views now being made public by fellow group members are the opposite of what he was told in private.

In particular, group chairperson Sunny Kaushal has called out a fellow group member, Retail New Zealand’s Carolyn Young, saying comments from her that she was opposed to “citizen arrests” was a surprise to him, and he felt “stabbed in the back” on reading them.

The Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime (the MAG) was set up by the Government in September 2024 and tasked with advising specifically Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith on ways in which to tighten rules to give businesses and police more tools to deal with theft, shoplifting and violence.

In February it was revealed it would be wound up four months early - in May - after RNZ reported three of the group’s five members had resigned - Young, Foodstuffs North Island senior manager Lindsay Rowles and Michael Hill national retail manager Michael Bell - leaving just Kaushal and Hamilton liquor retailer Ash Parmar.

There were also questions about some of the group’s spending and fees, and Young in particular said her working relationship with Kaushal was “untenable”.

At issue in particular was the group’s view of expanding citizen arrest powers. Expanded powers were officially recommended to the Government, but Young has since said there were “different perspectives around the table” and the minister had not been properly briefed about the range of views on MAG.

To The Post, Kaushal said: “I wish Retail New Zealand advocated for its members and the eradication of retail crime.

“Retail New Zealand members should be worried if their views are reflected in what Carolyn says. Some of the members tell me they have never been consulted. No wonder some are actively considering whether to renew their membership and whether they are getting value for money.”

The names of those who say they were not consulted were not disclosed.

No trash talk

Young did not want to get into the “tit for tat” argument about Kaushal’s comments when The Post called, but said it was “just not true” that Retail NZ members backed citizen’s arrests, and the membership, through its crime working group, had only just met to feed into the submissions on the Crime Amendment Bill proposals, which closed on Monday.

She said talk of citizen’s arrests had come out of work around considering further rights for security guards in situations of theft and shoplifting, and was never meant to evolve into individual retailers restraining retail criminals themselves.

Kaushal told The Post he too did not believe in “trash talking colleagues” in public, but had been prompted to “set the record straight” after reading things like Young’s comments about both her working relationship with him, as well as what she said was the “unpleasant environment” in MAG meetings.

“Many of the comments [Young] has made relate to matters that are confidential - I take my confidentiality obligations seriously. My focus is on getting results for victims of crime - not getting into public ego contests.”

But, “recent reports show what Carolyn has said in public does not fully represent what she told me in private - I was taken by surprise when Caro came out against the citizen’s arrest proposals. Actually, it was fair to say I felt stabbed in the back.”

As far as citizen arrests go, Kaushal sent a document written by Young to The Post, containing comments including “theft is generally something that most retailers would like to address with stronger support from legislation around their rights to engage with alleged offenders”.

She also recommends both the need for greater clarity on the use of reasonable force to recover stolen goods, and the need to consider the use of tools like pepper spray in high-risk retail settings as well as advocating for the removal of the $1000 threshold that currently acts as a barrier to security guards carrying out a citizen’s arrest, as it is difficult for staff in the moment to know the value of goods being stolen.

Young said that related to security guards rather than lay people.

The comments from Michael Hill’s Bell were also sent to The Post, in which he says “Security guards should have the authority to detain suspected offenders until police arrive, utilising reasonable force if necessary, and should be equipped with pepper spray and zip ties for added safety and control during confrontations … Store staff and the public should be able to perform citizens’ arrests if they can do so safely, focusing on preventing theft while minimising risk.

There were no comments provided by Foodstuff’s Rowles. Kaushal said he hadn’t been able to find any notes from Rowles that he opposed the final advice - “my recollection is that he did not express strong views either way”.

Not only did everyone belonging to the MAG support citizen’s arrests, he said, but “I feel confident in saying everyone belonging to the MAG, including me, was concerned about the risk of harm to retail workers. But frankly, I think these risks are being overblown for political reasons.”

Political?

The Post asked Kaushal what he meant by “political” blowback to his ideas.

He said from the day the MAG was established, stories about the group - “those posted from Wellington in particular” - had been used to create “misinformation” and bring into disrepute the work the group had been doing to “fix law and order” in the retail space.

There were people who did not want to see it fixed, but he was “proud of the progress the group achieved and the quality of the work - retailers finally feel heard.

“We have been focused on the bigger goal - that is fixing retail crime which is costing New Zealand $2.7 billion per year … and that’s just the financial cost, not even the human cost, so for me it has been a clear goal, we have been on a mission and I am satisfied we have delivered for victims of crime.”

Kaushal was confident that “common sense” would prevail and the various amendments envisaged by the MAG would be implemented by the Government. But there is a large array of groups lined up to oppose citizen arrest powers specifically. The EMA and unions consider them a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act, while Police have also rejected allow citizens the power to arrest, saying the move could create many more problems than it solved.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has said the bill’s primary aim was to allow people to “hold on” or restrain someone until police arrive and the use of cable ties to do so could be a “possibility”.