Ministry for Regulation news January 2025

Read the latest news and updates from the Ministry.

New year, new approach to regulation 

A guest column by Regulation Minister, Hon David Seymour.

 2025 will be an important year for improving the quality of New Zealand’s regulations.  

Bad regulation doesn’t just add cost to the things we do, it stops us doing things we’d otherwise do and degrades our culture in the process.

Whole projects don’t happen because they’re just too hard. Property developers have told me they turn down proposals to build more homes after adding up the regulatory costs, and a shortage of housing is one of our biggest national problems. That is just one sector.  

So, the Ministry for Regulation will be working hard on two critical projects – improving regulatory making processes across government, and the introduction of a Regulatory Standards Bill. 

Government agencies making new regulations will now follow a more simplified and streamlined process, saving time and energy by focusing only on what’s important. These changes will free resource up to focus on the big issues. 

Agencies must now also provide early-stage information to the Ministry for Regulation when starting new regulatory proposals – this will improve accountability for good regulation across government.

Working across government to improve the regulation making process

I am very much looking forward to the introduction of the Regulatory Standards Bill later this year. The Bill will codify principles of good regulatory practice for existing and future regulations. It will help us get our mojo back as a country, because we’ll be able to spend more time doing useful work, and less time complying with the powers that be for little reason. 

The Regulatory Standards Bill

Raising the political cost of making bad laws by allowing New Zealanders to hold regulators accountable will result in better law-making, higher productivity, and higher wages. That’s a benefit to us all. 

Best wishes for a great year ahead everyone. 

Hon David Seymour

Looking back on 2024

2024 was a big one for the new Ministry for Regulation.

We delivered a final report for our first regulatory review on Early Childhood Education (ECE), finalised our first draft of the agricultural and horticultural products regulatory review report, and launched a third regulatory review into the hairdressing and barbering industry.

We launched an online portal for reporting red tape issues, which will enable us to do even more to find and resolve regulatory issues that are getting in the way of people doing more.

We’ve been busy behind the scenes working with regulatory agencies to make things better for New Zealanders. We helped to keep costs down for Buy Now, Pay Later customers, and supported bakers to manage health and safety regulations.

Buy Now, Pay Later (82 KB, Pdf)

Flour dust standards - what should they be? (84 KB, Pdf)

We’ve also made changes to regulatory policymaking. Cabinet changed impact analysis requirements on 1 January, supporting the effectiveness and resilience of new policy.

And the proposed contents of the Regulatory Standards Bill were released for public feedback late last year.

Regulation wrap for 2024

Update on our regulatory reviews

ECE regulatory review

At the end of last year, we delivered our final report to the Minister for Regulation.  The report presented 15 recommendations that propose improvements to how government regulates the ECE sector. The recommendations would support ECE service providers to protect the children in their care, provide high-quality services and thrive in the market by expanding to meet demand. 

The ECE regulatory review was the first for the Ministry, and we were very pleased with the positive and encouraging feedback we received on the final report. Stakeholders noted it struck a good balance between reducing red tape and protecting the quality of care and education for children. They also noted the report was great reading, it was clever, clear and constructive, and instead of yawns, it was sensible, understandable and it hit the mark. 

The Minister accepted all 15 recommendations and is taking them to Cabinet.

ECE regulatory review

Agricultural and horticultural products regulatory review

We’ll deliver our final report on the review to the joint Ministers of Regulation, Environment and Food and Safety in the coming weeks, and we anticipate Ministers will progress changes in the near term.

Agricultural and horticultural products regulatory review

Hairdressing and barbering industry regulatory review

In December, we announced a short, sharp review into outdated rules around the hairdressing and barbering industry. 

The review team is currently engaging with the industry and hairdressing and barbering professionals and expect to complete the review findings by the end of March.

Hairdressing and barbering industry regulatory review

And finally, we expect to announce our fourth review in the next few months.

More than 500 red tape issues reported to the Ministry

Since we launched our online portal for reporting red tape issues in November 2024, we’ve had more than 500 issues reported. We’ve heard about a wide range of issues, including toys, aviation, bike racks, boats, service stations, hot water bores, engineering, electrical workers, health supplements and trailers.

Some of the key themes we’re hearing about are traffic management, anti-money laundering and small food manufacturing. We’re now working with several regulatory agencies, including MBIE, Ministry for the Environment, Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Transport, and NZTA, to support them to resolve regulatory issues that can get in the way of people getting things done.

Next month, we’ll release our first report on feedback we’ve received through the portal. We’ll then be publishing reports quarterly.

Report a red tape issue

Feedback on the proposed contents of the Regulatory Standards Bill

We received around 23,000 submissions on the proposed contents of the Regulatory Standards Bill, which was open for feedback for eight weeks.

Our team is busy triaging and analysing the feedback and a summary report will be available later in 2025, once it has been provided to the Minister for Regulation for consideration.

The feedback received will inform the development of a Bill the Government intends to introduce to Parliament later this year. The timing of the Bill’s introduction will be dependent on final policy decisions and the Parliamentary legislation programme.

There will be a further opportunity to provide feedback on the Bill as it progresses through select committee.

The Regulatory Standards Bill

Chief Economist appointed – meet Kevin Counsell

We are excited to welcome Kevin Counsell to the Ministry early next month. He will be responsible for developing and overseeing our long-term strategy to deliver high-quality regulatory economic analysis to the Ministry and Minister for Regulation, and provide an informed and insightful regulatory economics perspective to our work.

Representing us on regulatory economic issues in public forums and industry events, Kevin will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships within New Zealand and internationally, to ensure the Ministry is fully informed of broader regulatory trends and impacts. 

Chief economist appointed – meet Kevin Counsell

Reflections from our summer interns

Our summer internship programme provides a great opportunity for tertiary students to gain practical experience working within a central government agency.

In November last year, five interns joined us at the Ministry. The three-month programme offered them hands-on experience working in a government setting.

The internship programme has been a win-win. Our interns benefited from the learning experience, and we’ve had the benefit of our five interns’ dedication, curiosity, and enthusiasm.

With this year’s programme drawing to a close, we asked the interns to reflect on their experiences.

Reflections from our summer interns