Winston Peters says law change will result in deaths, but party won’t block it
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
NZ First leader Winston Peters says the Government’s health and safety legislation will “create accidents and deaths” but he would “not bring down a government on the matter” as the party could fix it after the election.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has accused Peters of leaving it to the last moment to raise concerns over the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill which she has championed — a charge Peters denied.
Peters told The Post yesterday that NZ First was obliged under its coalition agreement to vote in favour of the legislation, which is expected to receive its second reading in Parliament later on Wednesday.
But he said the party did not agree with the law change and would make it a priority to “fix it” after the election.
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Van Velden has suggested the reforms could improve health and safety while reducing compliance costs for small businesses, in particular, by encouraging them to focus on “critical” risks.
But opponents have maintained they amount to a watering-down of health and safety rules.
Speaking to families of victims of the Pike River Mine disaster and others who gathered outside Parliament to protest the legislation this afternoon, Peters reiterated he could not vote down the law change now, but said it would “not last more than 4½ months”.
“It will be dead on arrival,” he told the protesters.
Sandra Grey, president of the Council of Trade Unions, said one of its concerns was that the legislation would create a “two-tier system” for health and safety by exempting small businesses from some of the “stronger ends of the health and safety framework”.
Grey said Peters could block or delay the legislation without posing a significant risk to political stability.
“We get very hung up on absolute stability in our political realm. If they chose not to support this, it is not going to collapse the Government.”
Anna Osborne, who lost her husband in the Pike River Mine disaster and who spoke at Wednesday’s protest, said she was “quite disappointed” Peters was not going to veto the legislation.
But she said he had not promised he would go that far during a meeting with him on Tuesday and emphasised her conversations with him had been positive.
“At least, it’s going to be on the agenda to strengthen health and safety in New Zealand after the election. I hope he keeps his word,” she said.
Van Velden said NZ First had not raised specific concerns with the legislation before Peters outlined his opposition to it on Tuesday.
“I proactively reached out and met with NZ First last month to discuss the bill and no specific request for an amendment was raised,” she said.
“I can’t consider changes I haven’t seen. If Winston has specific proposals he should come share them.”
Peters said his criticisms of the bill on Tuesday should not have come as a surprise.
NZ First MP Mark Patterson met with van Velden a month ago and “laid out our concerns in our complaint”, he said, also revealing Van Velden had declined to meet with Patterson on Tuesday.
Van Velden confirmed she had declined the meeting.
“I said, look, if you've actually got concerns at this very late stage, you need to raise those with the leaders,” she said, referring to other coalition party leaders.
Van Velden brushed off the suggestion it would make sense to take a pause in the legislative process now or immediately after the bill’s second reading — given the concerns that had been raised and the confusion it might cause for businesses if there was a risk of the legislation being repealed soon after it took effect.
It is understood the Government’s plan at the start of the week was to progress the bill to its committee stage — the immediate step before its third and final reading — this week.
“My understanding is things will progress to second reading today, and all three parties will be voting for the bill,” van Velden said.
“If Winston Peters reaches out to me, I’ll meet with him,” she said.
When the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill received its first reading last year — before it was referred to a select committee — van Velden said it would “direct effort and resources towards managing the risks that cause serious harm, rather than paperwork and minor or peripheral issues”.
But her Labour counterpart, Jan Tinetti, said its definition of critical risks would exclude musculoskeletal injuries and psychological harm which made up more than half of ACC’s workplace injury costs.
“By deliberately omitting them, the bill turns its back on real-world harm that New Zealand workers are experiencing every single day,” she said.
Patterson had indicated the select committee process would be important when announcing NZ First would vote for the bill at first reading.
“I think it’s important that we do listen very carefully to the feedback that’s coming back on the ground,” he said then.
A spokesperson for Peters noted NZ First did not have an MP on the Education and Workforce Committee, which tabled its report on the legislation last week.