Foreshore and seabed: Govt to pass marine and coastal areas legislation despite Supreme Court ruling
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Scoop
24 minutes ago
- Scoop
Health And Safety Reform: Sector-Specific Updates Signal Targeted Regulatory Relief
As part of the Government's ongoing reform of New Zealand's health and safety regulatory framework, the Minister for the New Zealand Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon Brooke van Velden, has announced a new tranche of health and safety reforms, targeting specific industry sectors. The Minister indicated that the announced changes are aimed at improving clarity, reducing unnecessary compliance burdens, and better aligning regulations with real-world risks across several key sectors. This tranche of announcements follows earlier signals from the Government regarding broader legislative reform, which is expected to be introduced to Parliament later this year, with new legislation enacted ahead of the next election. In contrast to the first suite of announcements, this tranche demonstrates an intention to consult with identified sectors to develop or amend safety regulations or approved codes of practices in identified areas. Key features of the announcements Construction The Minister's announcement on 28 July 2025 signalled the intention to consult with the construction industry to create clearer rules and prequalification guidance to support construction. Specifically, the Minister highlighted possible changes for working at heights, the use of scaffolding and to simplify the complexity of prequalification systems, to better align health and safety requirements with actual site risks. The Government aims to, following consultation with the construction sector, introduce a risk-based hierarchy of controls for working at height, to help businesses select appropriate safety measures based on the specific hazards of each task. It is hoped this approach will reduce unnecessary use of scaffolding, particularly in low-risk situations. The Government has also signalled the introduction of revised prequalification guidance to improve consistency across the sector. As part of this work, the Minister has asked WorkSafe to collaborate with industry to develop free-to-use templates that support a more consistent and streamlined approach. Additionally, work is underway to clarify overlapping duties on shared worksites through an Approved Code of Practice (ACoP), which is to be developed by WorkSafe. This decision is aimed at helping businesses better understand when coordination with other contractors is required, and how responsibilities should be managed in practice. Agriculture In the 29 July 2025 announcement, the Minister indicated the Government would be consulting with the agriculture sector on the thresholds for members of the family to be involved in chores on the family farm, while ensuring safety is not compromised. In addition, the Government has also requested WorkSafe develop two new ACoPs in consultation with the agricultural sector, to reflect how modern farms operate and to support practical compliance. The first will provide clearer guidance on roles and responsibilities in agriculture, particularly around overlapping duties and PCBU obligations when multiple PCBUs are working on a farm. The second will focus on the safe use of farm vehicles and machinery, including quad bikes, tractors, side-by-sides, and two-wheel motorbikes. As part of broader reform, the Government is also proposing changes to the ACoP model itself. While compliance with ACoPs is currently voluntary, the proposed change would give greater assurance that following an ACoP is sufficient to meet health and safety duties under the Heath and Safety at Work Act 2015 (the HSW Act). Manufacturing On 30 July 2025, the Minister announced that the Government will consult on how to simplify machine guarding rules, aiming to replace 'outdated requirements' with a risk-based approach. The Minister signalled that these changes are expected to benefit both manufacturers and other sectors that rely on machinery, including agriculture, horticulture, construction, and food processing. Additionally, the Minister noted that the Government will review workplace exposure standards for substances such as soft wood dust, hard wood dust, and welding fumes. The review aims to improve clarity and ensure that exposure limits are practical. Science and technology On 31 July 2025, the Minister announced that the Government will consult on changes aimed at reducing regulatory complexity and better supporting innovation across the science and technology sectors for growth. The proposed changes will seek to match hazardous substances requirements for laboratories with their actual risk. It is not yet clear what form these requirements will take. A particular focus is the introduction of reforms that support the development and use of hydrogen technologies, including: enabling the use of internationally accepted hydrogen storage containers; establishing safety requirements for cryogenic liquid hydrogen; and introducing standards for hydrogen filling stations and dispensers. These reforms are intended to create a more enabling regulatory environment, in line with the Government's Hydrogen Action Plan. Broader consultation is underway to ensure the regulations reflect the needs of researchers, innovators, and industry stakeholders. Adventure and events In the last announcement on 1 August 2025, the Minster announced the Government would be consulting on health and safety regulations in the recreation and entertainment sectors to reduce unnecessary compliance pressure, while maintaining safety outcomes. Following consultation, it is intended that changes would be made to the Adventure Activities Regulations and Amusement Device Regulations, with the aim of reducing compliance costs for recreation providers, event organisers, and volunteer-led groups. One of the key proposals involves refining the definition of 'adventure activities' to distinguish between high-risk and low-risk recreational offerings. This change seeks to reduce compliance obligations for operators whose activities pose minimal safety risks. The Government is also proposing updates to the Amusement Device Regulations to focus council permitting requirements on transportable high-risk amusement devices. In contrast, fixed or low-risk devices would be exempt from these requirements. The proposed reforms aim to clarify health and safety obligations for volunteer organisations, especially those involved in outdoor recreation or emergency response, intending to reduce administrative complexity. Our view Given intended consultation with industry, it is difficult to predict the full impact of the announced reforms. However it is clear that the Government is seeking to save time and cost for businesses by reducing 'red tape' and 'mak[ing] it easier to do business'. At a high-level, these sector-specific updates reflect a desire to move towards a risk-based regulatory approach and a willingness to respond to industry feedback. However, while the intended areas of reform offer some clarification and modest compliance relief, they appear to fall short of delivering the clarity many stakeholders have been calling for. While it is promising to see a continued focus on regulation in areas where the greatest risk is presented, some of these reforms, such as those around guarding, relate to areas where significant risk is present and where New Zealand has been susceptible to poor health and safety performance. From a practical standpoint, how these reforms are implemented will be critical. Legislative changes alone will not be enough, and clear guidance, consistent support and enforcement, and meaningful engagement with industry will be essential to ensure that the intended benefits are realised 'on the ground'. A continued programme of keeping these standards up to date to align with best practice will also be vital, to ensure New Zealand does not fall further behind its Australian and English counterparts in health and safety performance. Nonetheless, businesses should take this opportunity to engage with the consultation processes to ensure the input and feedback required is received to inform the development of these codes of practice and regulation. We will continue to watch with interest as the Government continues its work to improve health and safety, and as Cabinet makes decisions on other aspects of the reform.
NZ Herald
41 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Ōtaki to north of Levin highway cost doubles to $2.1b, construction yet to start
'Our Government is committed to the road as it will deliver substantial safety benefits and unlock business and housing growth.' The Greens' transport spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter told the Herald that going ahead with the road after another cost escalation was an example of 'the coalition Government ploughing ahead with a highway at any cost'. She said the Wellington region would be better served by 'rail investment, along with safety improvements to the existing roads'. The new figure was first reported by BusinessDesk, owned by Herald publisher NZME. The road is a link in the Kāpiti Expressway, which connects the capital with the lower North Island. The highway began as a proposal to take the expressway to Levin and beyond. The expressway is a road of national significance project and was built in stages. It links the Transmission Gully motorway with a string of four-lane, grade-separated projects along the Kāpiti coast. It was funded to the tune of $817m in 2020 as one of the NZ Upgrade infrastructure projects by the then-Labour Government. That programme was fraught and most of its road projects increased in cost in the space of just months. By 2021, some of the upgrade projects were dropped, others were scaled back, while others had additional money tipped into them to keep them on track. The Auditor-General later criticised the upgrade programme for being hurried with a focus on announcing projects quickly – in many cases before up-to-date business cases could be completed. The Ōtaki to North of Levin highway was one of the lucky roads to get additional funding to stay on track, with Labour increasing its budget to $1.5b. In May 2025, NZTA went out to the community with some cost-saving proposals as it had escalated to around $1.7b. Those cost-saving proposals were mainly rejected. BusinessDesk reported these changes were rejected because rescoping aspects of the project would have required reconsenting, which could have caused significant and costly delays. An NZTA spokesman said the agency's board opted to put extra money into the project because 'it considers it a high priority relative to other initiatives included in the National Land Transport Programme'. 'The road will be tolled, as announced by the Government in December 2024, with revenue raised and returned to the National Land Transport Fund, which will include the maintenance for Ō2NL [Ōtaki to north of Levin],' he said. Genter, who has criticised the NZ Upgrade roads since they were announced – despite being an associate transport minister in the Government that announced them – warned that tolling would not cover close to the full cost of the road. 'This project won't get the test of paying for itself with tolls,' she said, noting a submission made by the Infrastructure Commission to the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee last month. That submission said that for a road to completely pay for itself it needed to cost about $32m a km, save motorists 15 minutes and have about 40,000 vehicles travel on it a day. This highway costs about $85m a km and is expected to have more than 20,000 vehicles travel on it each day by the late 2030s, according to NZTA business cases.
1News
an hour ago
- 1News
Government forges ahead with foreshore and seabed law
The Government is forging ahead with plans to change the law governing New Zealand's foreshore and seabed, despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that appeared to undercut the rationale for the change. The proposed legislation stems from a clause in National's coalition deal with NZ First, which promised to revisit the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act. That commitment was driven by fears that a 2023 Court of Appeal decision could have made it significantly easier for Māori groups to win recognition of customary rights over parts of the coastline. The Government introduced a bill to Parliament last year to prevent that, but it hit pause in December after the Supreme Court effectively overturned the earlier ruling. At the time, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith welcomed the development and said ministers would take time to reassess their plans. ADVERTISEMENT On Tuesday, Goldsmith confirmed to RNZ that Cabinet had agreed to press ahead with the law change regardless and to pass it before October. "Everybody in New Zealand has an interest in what goes on in the coastline, and we're trying our best to get that balance right." Goldsmith said he was not convinced that last year's Supreme Court ruling had set a high enough test for judging whether customary rights should be granted. "We've had a couple of cases that have been decided since then - which have shown almost 100% of the coastline and those areas being granted customary marine title - which confirmed to us that the Supreme Court test still didn't achieve the balance that we think the legislation set out to achieve." Asked whether he expected an upswell of protest, Goldsmith said that had been an earlier concern but: "time will tell". "There's been a wide variety of views, some in favour, some against, but we think this is the right thing to do." The legislation was one of the key objections raised by Ngāpuhi leaders last year when they walked out on a meeting with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in protest. ADVERTISEMENT More than 200 applications for customary marine title are making their way through the courts. Under the amendment bill, any court decisions issued after 25 July 2024, will need to be reconsidered. That would appear to cover seven cases, involving various iwi from around the country. "I understand their frustration over that," Goldsmith said. "But we believe it is very important to get this right, because it affects the whole of New Zealand." Goldsmith said the government had set aside about $15 million to cover the additional legal costs. The Marine and Coastal Area Act was originally passed by the National-led government in 2011, replacing the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, which had extinguished Māori customary rights in favour of Crown ownership. The 2004 law, introduced by Helen Clark's Labour government, provoked widespread protest and led to the creation of the Māori Party, now known as Te Pāti Māori. National's 2011 replacement declared that no one owned the foreshore and seabed but allowed Māori groups to seek recognition of their rights - or "Customary Marine Title" - through the courts or in direct negotiations with the Crown. ADVERTISEMENT Customary title recognises exclusive Māori rights to parts of the foreshore and seabed, provided certain legal tests are met, including proving continuous and "exclusive" use of the area since 1840 without substantial interruption. The 2023 Court of Appeal ruling, however, declared that groups only needed to show they had enough control over the area that they could keep others from using it, and that situations where the law itself had prevented them from doing so could be ignored. The Supreme Court subsequently overturned that and said the Court of Appeal had taken an unduly narrow approach in its interpretation.
