ACT leader David Seymour has denounced the Prime Minister for flying to the Chatham Islands in the aftermath of an Auckland dairy worker being stabbed to death.
But Jacinda Ardern said she was trying to "delicately balance being in the right place at the right time", noting she didn't want to get in the way of an ongoing police investigation.
On Wednesday night, the worker was stabbed to death during an aggravated robbery in the suburb of Sandringham. The alleged killer remains on the run.
Responding to the killing on Thursday, Ardern said it was devastating.
"To the family who today mourns their lost loved one - I am so sorry this has happened. I know our Sandringham community is a tight-knit one and they will be feeling this deeply too," said Ardern, who's also the MP for Mt Albert - the electorate where the dairy was located.
"Our job as Government is to make sure those who commit such crimes are brought to justice and to try and prevent them [from] occurring at all. On both counts, we will keep doing all we can," she said in a statement posted on social media.
In a statement, however, Seymour condemned Ardern's response to the tragedy. The Prime Minister on Friday travelled to the Chatham Islands to open the Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri Civic Building.
"The Prime Minister and MP for Mt Albert has shown a complete lack of judgment by going to the Chatham Islands today instead of supporting her local community after the tragic death of a dairy owner," Seymour said.
"ACT offers our condolences to the family and friends of the man who lost his life. This should be a turning point where the Government finally takes retail crime as seriously as it deserves."
Seymour said the tragedy should be making the Government act decisively.
"Instead of dropping everything to be in her electorate today and making the response to retail crime a priority, she is on a plane to the Chathams. A trip she could have easily postponed."
Seymour said there were many people - including in his Epsom electorate - suffering from escalating crime.
"This death could have happened a hundred times before," he said of the Sandringham killing. "In hindsight, it has only been luck that has prevented something like this [from] happening earlier."
Responding to Seymour's comments, Ardern said she had reached out to some of the community leaders directly affected by the "horrific homicide".
"It is my local community so I will be looking to be present there as soon as I'm able to but I'm also very aware there's a family grieving, and there's an active police investigation into a homicide," she told reporters. "I do need to delicately balance being in the right place at the right time when it comes to those two issues"
Seymour has repeatedly targeted the Government over its crime policies, while his own party has controversially proposed slapping ankle bracelets on young offenders.
In September, soon after Seymour announced that policy, National leader Christopher Luxon said his party wouldn't support that idea.
National has since backtracked on that, however. The party announced its crime policy last week, which proposed a similar ankle bracelets initiative.
Police Minister Chris Hipkins on Thursday defended crime prevention actions taken by the Government, saying there'd been significant progress in allocating fog cannons, security alarms, bollards and roller doors to small business owners.
"Of course, I would have liked to have seen some of that happen sooner but I'm confident that work is now, as indicated, accelerating."
Givealittle page raises thousands
More than $6000 has been raised through an online fundraising page to support the family members of the dairy worker killed in the stabbing.
The Givealittle page was created by the Dairy and Business Owners' Group and said funds raised would assist the victim's family "over an unimaginably trying time ahead".
"This senseless, needless act of violence has destroyed a life full of promise," said the page, which had raised more than $6100 as of early Friday afternoon. "It has robbed our community of someone trying to make a positive contribution from behind the counter."
Meanwhile, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown urged the Government to revise how retail crime was being handled.
An investigation into the killing was ongoing, police said as a manhunt for the suspect continued.
In his latest update, Det Insp Scott Beard said a post-mortem examination was being conducted on Friday afternoon.
A cordon remained in place around the dairy and Beard thanked those who lived in their area for their cooperation.
"We would like to thank all those who have already contacted police with information," he said in a statement.
Beard said police continued to appeal for witnesses to the incident.
It's believed the offender left the store with the cash register and put it in a wheelie bin before the worker approached him and a fight broke out about 100m from the dairy itself.
"We also continue to appeal to those in the community who know who the offender is, to do the right thing and contact us," Beard said.
Anyone with information was urged to contact police on 105, quoting file number 221123/3847. Anonymous reports could also be made to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
