Move-on orders now in force, for adults only, but how police will use them is still unclear

Since Sunday 25 October, police can order a person to leave a public place and stay a reasonable distance away for up to 24 hours, the NZ Herald reported. Anyone who refuses, or who comes back before the 24 hours are up, faces up to three months in jail or a $2000 fine, 1News reported.

Receiving an order is not an offence. "Only people who refuse those orders will face prosecution. A move-on order is not a criminal charge," Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said after the law passed, according to the NZ Herald.

The law now in force is narrower than the bill the Government introduced in February. As introduced, the Summary Offences (Move-on Orders) Amendment Bill would have let police order rough sleepers, or people as young as 14 behaving in a disorderly way, to move elsewhere, RNZ reported. The Herald said ministers first described it as covering conduct such as blocking the entrance to a business, breach of the peace, begging, rough sleeping and conduct showing an intent to live in a public place.

The Herald reported that the begging and rough-sleeping provisions raised Bill of Rights concerns, and that the select committee recommended excluding under-18s. Parliament passed an amended law under urgency last month. It applies only to adults. According to Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young, quoted by the Herald, it also raises the bar for begging, which must now be considered "unreasonable" before police take action.

Reports this week don't agree on exactly what behaviour is covered. 1News still describes the powers as applying to "beggars, rough sleepers, or people acting disorderly in a public place". The Herald says Parliament limited some of the law's scope but kept police powers to move people on for certain conduct. Whether sleeping rough, on its own, can still lead to an order is left open in both.

Danielle LeGallais, co-founder of the charity Sunday Blessings, told 1News the law had been "extremely unclear from the outset when it first was announced on February 22, right up until now." She said police had been handing out brochures to people on the street, but "it's been too late".

LeGallais said people still don't know how an order has to be issued, what the exceptions are, or what rights and duties apply to the officer and to the person receiving the order. She asked whether recipients can read or understand an order. She said it isn't clear how long someone can be sent away for or how far they have to go. And she warned that "detained also means you can be handcuffed before being arrested".

Retail NZ welcomed some of the amendments, Young said, according to the Herald. Young told 1News that retailers aren't worried about people sleeping rough or begging. Their concern is threatening or disorderly behaviour. At select committee, Young asked for clauses that targeted groups of people rather than behaviour to be removed, RNZ reported.

She also expects the problem to move rather than end. She said people moved on from Queen Street might go to K Road, then Newmarket, then Parnell, and end up back on Queen Street. She told the Herald that lasting improvement would come from dealing with the causes of antisocial behaviour.

Young described the work with police on how the law will work as "quite a truncated process". She wants calls to police kept confidential. She also wants a "circle back", so a business that calls police is told how long the person has been moved on for. Orders last up to 24 hours, but one "could be three hours, it could be eight hours, it could be 10 hours", she told 1News. She said that information is the only way a business would know whether an order had been breached.

Goldsmith told 1News that move-on orders do not criminalise homelessness. He said city centres, "particularly our showcase tourist spots", should not be accepted as "places of intimidation and dysfunction".

Correction: An earlier article in this publication described the February bill, which applied to people aged 14 and over. The law as passed applies only to people aged 18 and over.