Government’s controversial Regulatory Standards Bill passes first reading

Friday, 23 May 2025

The Regulatory Standards Bill has passed its first reading in the House.

The Bill is designed to assess the consistency of proposed and existing legislation within a set of established principles.

It will now be put before the Finance and Expenditure Committee.

The controversial Regulatory Standards Bill passed its first reading on Friday after being debated under urgency in the House.

Introduced by Regulation Minister David Seymour, the bill is designed to enable the assessment of proposed and existing legislation against a set of established regulatory principles.

It would also establish a Regulatory Standards Board, which would independently consider the consistency of proposed and existing legislation with those principles.

The principles would be grouped into categories like rule of law, liberties, and good law-making. For example, they would make governments keep an eye on whether every person is equal before the law when they design legislation. There would, however, be no regulatory principle covering Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Seymour has said when inconsistencies in legislation were found with the principles, the responsible minister would have to respond and explain the “deviation”. He said it would raise the political cost of bad regulation, potentially cut red tape and cast “sunlight” on politicians’ activities.

The regulatory principles, which would come into effect on January 1, 2026, would cover new laws and older laws too. Old laws could be reviewed - ministers forced to report back to Parliament, explain why there are inconsistencies against the principles, and what will be done to fix them.

Seymour welcomed the bill’s passing through first reading on Friday, saying that red tape was holding New Zealand back and that politicians found regulating “politically rewarding”.

“We need to make regulating less rewarding for politicians with more sunlight on their activities. That is how the Regulatory Standards Bill will help New Zealand get its mojo back. It will finally ensure regulatory decisions are based on principles of good law-making and economic efficiency,” he said.

“Ultimately, this bill will help the Government achieve its goal of improving New Zealand’s productivity by ensuring that regulated parties are regulated by a system which is transparent, has a mechanism for recourse, and holds regulators accountable to the people.”

The passing of the bill’s first reading has been met with criticism by the opposition, however, with both Labour and the Greens denouncing it.

Labour’s regulation spokesperson Duncan Webb said the bill would take New Zealand backwards and that it favours “corporate interests” ahead of communities, environmental protections, and the Treaty of Waitangi.

“This bill is a dangerous power grab that is not in the interests of the majority of New Zealanders,” Webb said.

The Green Party said the fight against the bill was “not over”, while party co-leader Marama Davidson also accused the prime minister of failing to show up for the Treaty.

“Governments come and go. Politicians come and go. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is foundational and enduring. Honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the constitutional obligation of every prime minister – something Christopher Luxon must show leadership by scrapping the Regulatory Standards Bill,” Davidson said.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters last week indicated NZ First did not fully agree with the bill, though it would agree for it to enter the House “strictly according to the instructions that Cabinet has agreed to”.

The Waitangi Tribunal heard an urgent inquiry into the bill earlier this month, calling for it to be stopped.

The Tribunal said the bill breached the Treaty and that Māori were not meaningfully consulted about it. The bill does not mention the Treaty of Waitangi or the Government’s obligations to the nation’s founding document among its principles.

The bill will now be put before the Finance and Expenditure Committee where there will be a chance for public feedback.