This week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the group would disband in May, four months earlier than planned.<\/p>\n
The announcement followed RNZ revealing that three of the group\u2019s five members had resigned in recent weeks, leaving just Kaushal and Hamilton liquor retailer Ash Parmar.<\/p>\n
One of the members who resigned, Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young, said her relationship with Kaushal became untenable.<\/p>\n
The group has faced criticism for its spending and value for money, including over Kaushal\u2019s fees as chairman.<\/p>\n
But Kaushal and Goldsmith have defended the group\u2019s work, saying it had provided advice on a range of issues such as trespass law reform and self-defence.<\/p>\n
Proposed office didn\u2019t meet chairman\u2019s requirements \u2013 officials<\/p>\n
Documents obtained by the New Zealand Taxpayers\u2019 Union show a shortlist of three possible offices was developed, after Kaushal had reviewed 26 possible options.<\/p>\n
The Symonds St office was one of the three, but not the one officials initially favoured. That was a shared space with K\u0101inga Ora in Ellerslie.<\/p>\n
However, in the documents, the Ellerslie office was described as \u201copen plan … which isn\u2019t appropriate for confidential conversations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis option was originally our recommendation, however, the chairman has advised this doesn\u2019t meet his requirements due to the privacy concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Symonds St office was recommended instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this option is not the most cost-effective, it is the recommended option due to the property being secure, minimal risk of individuals\u2019 breach of privacy and furniture is supplied, making the move in more seamless, as well as benefiting the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
A third office, in Parnell, was considered, but the landlord there wouldn\u2019t add a break clause to any rental agreement.<\/p>\n
\u2018This isn\u2019t the SIS\u2019<\/p>\n
This week, the ministry confirmed the Symonds St lease would now end in May, rather than September.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Goldsmith said questions about operational matters should be directed to the ministry.<\/p>\n
Ministry deputy secretary, policy Caroline Greaney said as at December 31, the 389sq m Symonds St office was the usual place of work for three staff members and Kaushal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also serves as the venue for group member meetings and stakeholder meetings and functions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ministry couldn\u2019t immediately say how many stakeholder meetings and functions it had held.<\/p>\n
Kaushal told RNZ he had previously answered questions about the office.<\/p>\n
The documents obtained by the Taxpayers\u2019 Union show the total cost for the Symonds St office in 2025\/26 was $131,000, when other expenses such as power were factored in.<\/p>\n
Union investigations co-ordinator Rhys Hurley said paying that much for an office of such a size was a farce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original recommendation from the Ministry of Justice was to take the most cost-effective office,\u201d Hurley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chairman was concerned about privacy, but this isn\u2019t the SIS. The next time a quango like this needs space, they can borrow some of ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hurley said the most cost-effective option for taxpayers should have been taken.<\/p>\n
Labour Party police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen said the group had been a disaster since it began.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Prime Minister Christopher] Luxon and Goldsmith have spent millions, a lot of which is going to Sunny Kaushal\u2019s office space, overpriced events and Kaushal\u2019s lofty remuneration, only to rehash bad ideas like citizen\u2019s arrest in return.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoldsmith needs to front up about why they allowed the group to spend on more expensive office options when more affordable options were available.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the group would disband in May, four months earlier than planned.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1665,77486,9092,25815,6147,33912,14739,209,1736,25814,111,43,139,69,29413,644,392,5424,69579],"class_list":["post-284812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-advice","tag-advisory","tag-against","tag-cleave","tag-crime","tag-ellingham","tag-expensive","tag-group","tag-jimmy","tag-louisa","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rented","tag-retail","tag-space","tag-street","tag-symonds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}