Chris Bishop finally confirms triple ministry merger being considered

Tuesday, 22 July 2025

A possible triple ministry merger between Environment, Transport and Housing and Urban Development is being considered by the Government.

Minister Chris Bishop - who has responsibility for housing, infrastructure, RMA reform and transport - confirmed he had received advice around merging the three departments.

It’s the first official on the record confirmation that the merger was being considered.

Bishop would not say what that advice was.

“It's under active consideration,” he said.

While Cabinet will have the final say, all the ministries and ministers had been directing The Post’s questions to the Public Service Commission (PSC).

“We're always looking for operational efficiencies, but we're also looking for more effective delivery of public services,” Bishop said.

“We're very interested in better partnership with between central and local government to fix our infrastructure deficit and deliver housing and the priorities that the government has around rebuilding the economy, and the PSC are the right people to talk to about that.”

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche earlier this month would only say: “I am always open to new, more efficient ways of working.”

“In that context, the commission provides ongoing advice on machinery of government changes if they can deliver efficiencies and value to taxpayers.”

If the three ministries did merge, without any cuts, the workforce the size of 1300 would still only be about a quarter of the size of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. It would be smaller than Corrections, Conservation, Internal Affairs, Inland Revenue, Ministry for Primary Industries, Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki.

It would be a similar size to Customs and StatsNZ.