Source: Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission
Last updated: 03 July 2026
Commission calls for withdrawal of the Move-on Orders Bill, warning it risks criminalising those with greatest need.
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission is calling on the Government to withdraw the Summary Offences (Move-on Orders) Amendment Bill, warning it risks criminalising poverty and homelessness rather than improving safety and addressing the root causes of harm in our communities.
In its submission to the Justice Select Committee on 2 July, the Commission believes the Bill gets the problem wrong and as a result, gets the solution wrong. The Bill risks further victimising and negatively impacting people for simply trying to survive sleeping rough, begging, or dealing with health and housing problems they need help addressing.
The Bill also risks increasing police contact, displacement and criminalisation for people already experiencing significant hardship, while doing little to address genuinely harmful or threatening behaviour for which legal tools already exist.
“This Bill doesn’t make anyone safer, it just makes homelessness and poverty harder to see,” says Prudence Walker, Disability Rights Commissioner.
“People don’t sleep on our streets or ask strangers for money because our public spaces are too relaxed. They’re there because housing, health care, addiction support and whānau support have run out. Moving them on doesn’t fix any of that — it just moves the problem down the road.”
The Commission is especially concerned that move-on orders could be issued to children as young as 14.
“A 14-year-old sleeping rough needs care and a safe place to stay — not a move-on order,” says Walker. “This Bill would let us push children further away from the help they need, at exactly the moment they need it most.”
The Commission’s submission also raises concerns under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, noting that Māori are disproportionately affected by severe housing deprivation, and that the Crown has existing obligations to actively protect and support Māori communities.
The Bill is also likely to disproportionately impact others already experiencing disadvantage, including disabled people, Pacific peoples, Rainbow communities, women and children, particularly where poverty, homelessness, family violence, addiction, mental distress or unmet disability support needs intersect.
The Commission recommends the Bill not proceed, and that the Government should instead take a human rights and evidence-based approach to address the upstream conditions that lead to homelessness, addiction and mental health directly. This should be done through investment in stable housing, Housing First approaches, kaupapa Māori housing, accessible health and addiction services, and whānau-centred support.
As a country, preventing poverty and homelessness is how we create a positive shared future for all of us. Lasting safety comes from decent homes, adequate incomes, accessible and culturally safe services, and whānau-centred support and prevention.
Chief Commissioner, Dr Stephen Rainbow adds:
“We have existing laws that deal with genuinely threatening or disorderly behaviour.
“Workers, businesses, residents and communities deserve safe and welcoming public places, but moving people experiencing hardship out of sight will not make communities safer, nor will it solve the challenges associated with addiction or mental distress that afflict many of those most likely to be impacted by this Bill.
“The real issue is the systemic failure behind the growth of antisocial behaviour, particularly in town centres, that’s impacting safety of workers, shopkeepers, public transport users and shoppers. The visible failure to care for the most vulnerable demands a long, hard look at what’s causing this human tragedy.”
Click here to read the Commission’s full submission.