Every question and original answer

For your café, I would look at this election through two connected questions:

1. Can a government make your premises, staff and customers safer? This includes burglary, ram raids, theft, repeat offending, police response times and crime prevention.
2. Can it help keep your business financially viable? Lower operating costs and stronger customer spending matter because security measures are another expense when margins are already tight.

There are some quite significant differences between the parties, particularly over whether the answer to retail crime is tougher enforcement and stronger powers, or prevention, rehabilitation and community investment.

The following is a comparison of New Zealand's 2026 election positions, using Retail NZ's election policy tracker, updated party announcements and small-business policy information available as at 1 November 2026.

1. What the parties propose on retail and small-business crime

The central comparison is based on Retail NZ's published retail crime policy tracker.

National

National Party

Approach: Tougher enforcement, stronger deterrents and more policing.

National supports:

• Expanding citizens' arrest legislation to allow mechanical restraints.
• On-the-spot fines for certain retail offending.
• Increasing maximum trespass notice periods from two to three years.
• Exploring facial recognition technology to identify repeat offenders.
• Strengthening powers available to private security guards.
• Introducing move-on orders to address persistent antisocial behaviour outside businesses.

National also previously committed $480 million over four years to frontline policing and promised 500 additional police officers by the end of 2025.

Its 2026 election programme also proposes a dedicated Auckland Transport Police team, with 50 additional sworn officers for public transport safety.

What this could mean for your café: A stronger enforcement approach, potentially making it easier to deal with repeat offenders and persistent antisocial behaviour. However, some proposals involve changes to legislation and safeguards would matter when considering their practical effect.

Retail Crime2026 Election Policy

Labour

Labour Party

Approach: Police capacity, crime prevention and safer workplaces.

Labour:

• Opposes expanding citizens' arrest powers, arguing that untrained retail employees should not be encouraged to physically detain offenders.
• Has criticised frontline police numbers.
• Previously funded anti-crime infrastructure, including fog cannons.
• Had not announced a specific retail crime policy for the 2026 election in Retail NZ's latest detailed assessment.

Labour's wider 2026 business programme includes:

• A $10,000 instant asset write-off for eligible business investment.
• Faster payment of small-business invoices.
• An $80,000 GST threshold proposal.
• Greater access for small businesses to government contracts.

What this could mean for your café: Labour's approach places more emphasis on avoiding dangerous confrontations between staff and offenders, alongside practical business support. However, there is less specific detail about its 2026 retail crime response.

Retail CrimeLabour's 2026 Election PoliciesElection 2026: What’s on Offer for Small Business?

Green Party

Green Party

Approach: Prevention, early intervention and community-based solutions.

The Greens strongly oppose:

• Expanded citizens' arrest powers.
• New move-on orders.
• Expanded trespass powers.

Their concerns include:

• Increased risks of violence when retail workers physically confront offenders.
• Potential racial profiling and disproportionate impacts on Māori and Pasifika communities.
• Over-reliance on punitive responses rather than addressing the causes of offending.

The Greens advocate funding community-led crime prevention and early intervention.

Their wider economic approach also includes supporting local business districts, including proposals addressing commercial rents and long-vacant premises.

What this could mean for your café: More emphasis on preventing offending before it happens and addressing underlying social issues. The trade-off is that the party opposes several of the stronger enforcement measures sought by retail businesses.

Retail CrimeElection 2026: What’s on Offer for Small Business?

ACT

ACT New Zealand

Strongest enforcement-focused proposals

Approach: Stronger powers for business owners and security personnel, and tougher consequences for repeat offenders.

ACT supports:

• Expanded citizens' arrest powers.
• A licensing system giving trained security guards additional powers, including reasonable force and consent-based safety searches.
• A proposed minimum three-year prison sentence for someone convicted of a third burglary.
• Early release incentives for prisoners who learn to read, gain trade skills and achieve qualifications.

What this could mean for your café: ACT has some of the most directly relevant proposals for businesses experiencing burglary and repeat offending. Its approach is particularly focused on deterrence and giving trained security personnel greater authority.

An important distinction: stronger powers for trained security guards are not the same as encouraging café owners or ordinary employees to physically intervene.

Retail Crime

New Zealand First

New Zealand First

Approach: Targeting organised crime and the networks behind stolen goods.

New Zealand First's focus includes:

• Dismantling transnational criminal syndicates.
• Targeting the black market for stolen retail goods.
• Tackling illicit tobacco networks.
• Investing in Customs equipment and personnel to support enforcement.

What this could mean for your café: Its focus is particularly relevant if theft is connected to organised criminal activity or the resale of stolen goods. Its published retail crime proposals are less directly focused on everyday shoplifting or individual burglaries.

New Zealand First has also proposed reducing the company tax rate to 20% for SMEs with turnover below $30 million.

Retail CrimeElection 2026: What’s on Offer for Small Business?

Te Pāti Māori

Te Pāti Māori

Approach: Prevention, rehabilitation and community-led alternatives.

Te Pāti Māori:

• Opposes expanded citizens' arrest and trespass powers.
• Warns that tougher enforcement could disproportionately affect Māori and Pasifika communities.
• Advocates moving resources away from ineffective imprisonment and towards prevention, rehabilitation and community-led solutions.

What this could mean for your café: A longer-term focus on addressing the causes of crime rather than expanding enforcement powers. There is less detail about specific protections for businesses experiencing burglary.

Retail Crime

The Opportunity Party

The Opportunity Party

Approach: Evidence-based crime reduction.

Opportunity advocates a 'Smart on Crime' approach, supporting investment in evidence-based measures to reduce offending.

Its position is more focused on effective crime reduction than on expanding citizens' arrest powers.

Its broader business programme includes support for innovation, small businesses, fairer retail payment systems and business investment.

What this could mean for your café: Potentially greater attention to prevention and long-term reductions in offending, although its specific retail crime commitments are less detailed.

Retail CrimeElection 2026: What’s on Offer for Small Business?

2. Side-by-side comparison

Here is how the parties compare on the issues most likely to affect a small café.

Party	Stronger enforcement	Prevention and rehabilitation	Direct retail crime proposals
National	Strong	Some	Extensive
Labour	Moderate	Some	Limited 2026 detail
Greens	Opposes expanded enforcement powers	Strong	Clear position
ACT	Very strong	Some rehabilitation incentives	Extensive
NZ First	Strong against organised crime	Less emphasis in retail policy	Focused on criminal networks
Te Pāti Māori	Opposes expanded powers	Strong	Clear position
Opportunity	Evidence-based approach	Strong emphasis	Less specific

This is a qualitative comparison of published positions, not an assessment of proven effectiveness.

3. What about the financial pressures on your café?

Crime is only one part of the problem. Your food costs, electricity bills, labour costs and reduced customer spending can be just as important to whether the business survives.

Some of the wider 2026 policies are worth considering alongside crime policy.

Party	Relevant small-business proposals
National	47-point small-business plan, reducing compliance and regulatory costs, reviewing the GST threshold and simplifying government processes
Labour	$10,000 instant asset write-off, faster invoice payments, proposed $80,000 GST threshold
ACT	Employment flexibility, regulatory reform and reducing the cost and risk of employing staff
NZ First	20% company tax rate for qualifying SMEs with turnover below $30 million
Greens	Support for local business districts, commercial rent initiatives and competition reforms
Opportunity	Innovation and small-business support, fairer retail payment systems
Te Pāti Māori	Māori enterprise development and economic self-determination

Sources: Business Central's 2026 small-business policy comparison and the parties' published election programmes. Election 2026: What’s on Offer for Small Business?October AMM Comms: Election 2026 – What the Parties Are Proposing for Employers and Small BusinessesLabour's 2026 Election Policies

One important distinction: a lower company tax rate does not necessarily mean lower tax for every café. Your business structure matters. Similarly, GST threshold changes affect registration and administration, not simply your overall tax bill.

4. What I would pay particular attention to as a café owner

I would use five practical tests when evaluating the parties.

1. Burglary and repeat offending: Does the party have specific proposals to reduce burglaries and stop repeat offenders returning to businesses?
2. Police response: Does it commit to enough frontline officers, effective investigations and timely responses to business crime?
3. Staff safety: Will its policies protect your employees from having to confront potentially dangerous offenders?
4. Prevention: Does it support practical security measures and address the causes of offending?
5. Business viability: Does it have credible policies to reduce food, electricity, employment and compliance costs, while helping customers retain spending power?

I would also ask candidates a question that often gets overlooked:

If my café is burgled tonight, what specifically will your government do to improve the likelihood that the offender is identified, apprehended and prevented from doing it again?

That is a more useful test than simply asking whether a party is tough on crime.

5. Where to check the original policies

These are particularly useful resources before voting on 7 November 2026:

• Retail NZ – 2026 Retail Crime party comparison. Probably the most directly relevant independent industry resource for your circumstances.
• Retail NZ – 2026 Election Hub. Broader retail policy comparisons.
• The Conversation – 2026 Election Policy Tracker. Wider comparisons across party policy areas.
• National's election policies.
• Labour's election policies.

My overall assessment

There are three broad approaches emerging:

• National and ACT: Prioritise enforcement, deterrence and stronger powers to protect businesses.
• Labour and NZ First: Offer different combinations of policing, enforcement and practical business support, with NZ First particularly focused on organised crime.
• Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Opportunity: Place greater emphasis on prevention, rehabilitation or evidence-based alternatives to punitive enforcement, although Opportunity's approach is less explicitly defined.

None of these approaches automatically guarantees fewer break-ins or better business margins.

For your decision, I would give considerable weight to whether a party has a credible plan for both sides of the problem: protecting the business you have built and making it financially sustainable to keep employing your team.

One final point: I would not assume that retail crime policies automatically translate into better protection for cafés. Ask candidates specifically about hospitality premises, after-hours burglaries, security investment and the practical support available to small businesses after a break-in.