Retail NZ has praised a proposal from Act targeting combating youth crime

The party wants to introduce instant penalties to young people caught shoplifting, to discourage rookie offenders from escalating to something more serious.

The policy consists of introducing an infringement notice offence, allowing Police to give out punishments on the spot.

Retail NZ CEO Greg Harford says we need to see a multifaceted approach in applying the policy.

He says they've long been calling for this for low level offending, and it's a good start if they can couple that with real consequences for repeat offending.