Casey Costello: Customs Minister on the need for action to mitigate corruption in New Zealand

New Zealand's becoming more vulnerable to corruption by organised crime.  

An independent advisory panel's urged the Government to take immediate action.  

It says police officers, immigration officials, and private sector employees have facilitated drug smuggling, leaked sensitive information, and undermined our border system.  

Customs Minister Casey Costello told Ryan Bridge she agrees we can't rest on our laurels. 

She says we are the only Five Eyes partner that doesn't have a national corruption strategy, and our legislation isn't fit for purpose. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The latest Organized Crime Group report. This is the advisor
group the government set up is out and it says
corruption is getting worse here and in the Pacific, mainly
to do with organized crime importing drugs, that sort of thing,
but also the fact that some of our trading partners
are more corrupt than us and there's a risk there
of the rock spreading. Casey Costello, Minister in charge of
the group, with me this morning, Minister, Good.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Morning, Good morning Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
I'm just having a look at some of the examples.
There are some bad ones, you know, we've got border
agents being compromised and allowing meth to be brought in, etc.
But there are only a couple spread over a few years.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Is this a.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Major problem or is this one we need more data about.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
No. I think this is a major problem because we're
talking about those agents being targeted by organized crime, so
as opposed to it being someone who's chosen a different path.
This is about organized crime trying to find ways to
weaken our borders, weaken our controls and paint our supply chain.

(01:00):
And this is why we can't sit on our laurels
and think, well, this is something happens in other countries.
We need to step up in line with our Five
Eyed partners and do more.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
When you say do more, do what exactly?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
So this is about you know, if you in the report,
it talks about the fact that we are the only
Five Eyed partners that doesn't have a natural corruption strategy.
Our legislation isn't really fits a purpose when we talk
about corruption and our Crimes Act, it's quite a weak
phrasing of how we look at corruption in New Zealand

(01:36):
always about official capacity. What we need to look at
is bring our legislation up to play. And the biggest part,
which is all of these reports are talking about, is
how our agencies connect up better to strengthen. As we
do with our border, we look at how we can
strengthen our border to make it stronger. This is about
our internal borders, making sure that we are connected, we're

(01:59):
working operatively, that all of our agents are sharing information.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
That all sounds good do you? This is all about
organized crime and it's about money, isn't it. I mean,
if your if you work for customs, it's about money.
Do you know which department has the lowest pay of
all the departments?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
No, I don't know, but it's.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Not Customs has the lowest average pay. I mean, do
you think so If it's not about money, what is
it about? Why else would you help you organize crime
group if you're.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
A customs official, Well, it is about money. It is
about as it says in the report, it's about familial
collection connections. It's about customery connections. We're talking about the
reason people drive do things is to help family members out.
It's to protect a family member who's got to debt,
those sort of things. It's not necessarily about driven from

(02:46):
making money also, and that's the part that we have
to be really serious, and it's not when we talk
about the organized crime component is about little players doing
little pieces of work that might not seem like a
major thing until it's.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Talking next about Minister. Appreciate your time this morning, Thanks
for coming on the show Casey Costello who has Customs
and associate police but also minister in charge of this
group looking into organized crime. For more from Early edition
with Ryan Bridge, Listen live to News Talks it'd be
from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.