Latest news with #RegulatoryStandards
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Hearings begin on Regulatory Standards Bill
David Seymour's Regulatory Standards Bill has been put through its paces at Parliament, with its opponents lining up one by one to tear it down. Beginning this morning, and for the next three days, MPs are hearing feedback on the legislation which sets out new gold-standard principles for lawmaking. Ministers introducing new laws would be required to declare whether they'd met the new standards and to justify themselves if not. Acting political editor Craig McCulloch spoke to Lisa Owen. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
15 hours ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Controversial regulation bill heads into four days of hearings
Parliament's Finance and Expenditure select committee is reconvening to hear public submissions on the lightning rod Regulatory Standards Bill. The bill - championed by ACT's David Seymour - sets out "principles of responsible regulation" and would require ministers to explain whether they are following them. It would also set up a new board to assess legislation against those benchmarks. RNZ deputy political editor Craig McCulloch is with us.
Scoop
7 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Official Documents Reveal Widespread Opposition To Seymour's Regulatory Standards Bill
Documents released to Greenpeace Aotearoa under the Official Information Act reveal that both the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and Treasury have joined the growing list of bodies issuing strong warnings against the Regulatory Standards Bill. In a scathing assessment dated 20 March, the Ministry for the Environment described the Bill as "deeply problematic" and warned that it "conflicts with the fundamental principles of the environmental management system" and "poses risks to the health, safety, economic, social, and environmental interests of current and future New Zealanders." Greenpeace is calling on the Prime Minister to withdraw his support for the Bill. "This damning official advice confirms what Greenpeace have been warning all along: this Bill represents an unprecedented threat to our environment and to the Government's ability to respond to the climate crisis," said Greenpeace spokesperson Gen Toop. The Treasury, in a separate briefing dated 28 March 2025, warned the Bill "could impose costs on agencies exceeding the potential economic and societal benefit" and "may also have a chilling effect on the development and retention of beneficial regulation." "What we're seeing here is overwhelming opposition to the Bill from the very institutions tasked with upholding good lawmaking, public safety, and environmental stewardship. That's because the real intent behind David Seymour's Regulatory Standards bill is to tie the hands of future Governments and impose the ACT party's far-right neoliberal principles on our democracy." "This is a dangerous, undemocratic piece of legislation being pushed through via a backroom coalition deal," said Toop. "It's time for the Prime Minister to show some leadership and scrap it." MfE and Treasury were both particularly critical of the Bill's proposed expectation that the government compensate corporations for regulations that affect their property. MfE said it risks "reversing the 'polluter pays' principle", and Treasury stated it "goes further than conventional policy in this area" warning it could lead to delays and increased costs on infrastructure projects. "It's a simple principle: polluters should pay - not be paid by the public," said Toop. "But this Bill would flip that on its head, allowing corporations to expect taxpayer compensation for basic environmental and human health protections," says Toop. "It is the role of the Government to govern for the collective well-being of the people it serves, and that includes protecting the environment and the climate on which we all depend. This Bill upends that and tries to make our Government serve corporate interests instead." Treasury and MfE are the latest to join a growing list of governmental agencies issuing warnings over the bill. The Ministry of Justice has warned it's not in line with the NZ Bill of Rights Act and "fails to recognise the constitutional significance of the Treaty of Waitangi." While Parliament's legislative watchdog has cautioned that the Bill could lead to "significant unintended consequences,"
RNZ News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Cabinet signs off on proposal for Regulatory Standards Bill
ACT leader David Seymour, as Minister for Regulation, is responsible for the bill that was part of the National-Act coalition agreement. Photo: MARIKA KHABAZI / RNZ ACT leader David Seymour says the Regulatory Standards Bill will "help New Zealand get its mojo back", as Cabinet signs off on a "detailed proposal" for the legislation he says will shine a light on bad lawmaking. It comes days after an urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim regarding the Bill was accepted , with claimants saying the Bill - if enacted - would breach Te Tiriti and cause significant prejudice to Māori. Seymour, as Minister for Regulation, is responsible for the bill that was agreed to in the National-Act coalition agreement. The legislation has been 20 years in the making, and comes after three failed attempts to make it law. Read more: His proposal announced on Wednesday outlined the bill's intention, which he said was to "improve the quality of regulation" by codifying principles of "good regulatory practice". "In a nutshell, if red tape is holding us back, because politicians find regulating politically rewarding, then we need to make regulating less rewarding for politicians with more sunlight on their activities." The bill would create a "benchmark for good legislation" through those principles, he said. And it would require those making legislation to openly assess how that legislation is consistent with the principles. It would create a Regulatory Standards Board that would independently consider whether current and future legislation is consistent with the principles. The Board would also assess complaints independently or at the direction of the Minister. It will be able to make non-binding recommendations. The principles themselves were proposed as the rule of law, liberties, taking of property, taxes, fees and levies, the role of the courts, and good law-making. Seymour said the Bill required politicians and officials to "ask and answer" questions before placing "restrictions on citizens' freedoms". "What problem are we trying to solve? What are the costs and benefits? Who pays the costs and gets the benefits? What restrictions are being placed on the use and exchange of private property?" Where inconsistencies are found, the responsible Minister must justify that departure from the set principles, Seymour said. The proposal stated the bill would also give the Ministry of Regulation new powers, as it aimed to bring the "same level of discipline to regulatory management" the Public Finance Act brings to public spending. It said the ministry will play a role similar to that of the Treasury, but in relation to regulation. The ministry would also be required to produce a regular report for the minister on the state of the Regulatory Management System. The ministry would have the power to require public service agencies to provide information to support that requirement, and it would have information-gathering powers to enable it to conduct regulatory reviews. These powers would not override restrictions on information sharing already set in law. Seymour said this would not stop politicians or officials making bad laws, but it made it "transparent that they're doing it." "It makes it easier for voters to identify those responsible for making bad rules. Over time, it will improve the quality of rules we all have to live under by changing how politicians behave." The bill would now be drawn up by the Parliamentary Council Office, and Seymour would take that to Cabinet for consideration on the 19th May, seeking approval to introduce it to the House. Just last week the group behind last year's Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti was granted an urgent hearing at the Waitangi Tribunal regarding the Regulatory Standards Bill. The claim alleges that - if enacted - the bill would breach Te Tiriti and cause significant prejudice to Māori. Toitū te Tiriti spokesperson Eru Kapa-Kingi told RNZ the lack of information around the bill was itself a source of anxiety for Māori. From Toitū te Tiriti's perspective the Regulatory Standards Bill seems like the "more covert, but more aggressive version of the Treaty Principles Bill," which was voted down at Second Reading, he said. Seymour said he would be interested to hear if the group had a problem with what he was proposing, which was to make lawmaking more transparent. "But I suspect this is just another publicity stunt from a Māori Party protest group." Consultation on a discussion document about the bill had been gaining increasing public interest earlier this year in the wake of the Treaty Principles Bill. The Ministry of Regulation received almost 23,000 submissions, around 80 percent of them in the final four days of the consultation period. The legislation itself has a long history. A report written by Dr Bryce Wilkinson for the Business Roundtable, now the New Zealand Initiative, became the foundations for one of the earlier versions of the bill. Wilkinson said economists believed good quality regulation was where the "benefits to people who are affected by it exceed the costs to people who are affected by it". "So it's regulation which makes people better off." Emeritus Professor Jane Kelsey had long opposed the intention of the legislation, saying it was "basically about the protection of private property and wealth." She said the ACT Party's priority for private property rights excluded balancing considerations, things like social or environmental factors, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. "All of those things ... will be subordinated, if not, deemed irrelevant, in the policy and legislative making processes," said Kelsey.
