Recently I was at Auckland airport’s Koru lounge, and I saw that our new Deputy Prime Minister, David Seymour, was sitting nearby.  On impulse, I went over, shook his hand, and said that I very much hoped he would withdraw the Regulatory Standards Bill.

His smile faded and he asked why.  I began to answer, but his quick retorts and interruptions made the conversation challenging.  And when I said that there was no mention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the legislation, and tried to explain why this is so important, he interrupted one final time.

“You don’t have a clue do you?” he said.   “I knew some people were opposed to this bill, but I didn’t know people were so ill-informed.  Excuse me, I have a plane to catch.”

And he left.

So…

Firstly, that final response was disrespectful and rude.   It is fine to disagree, but it is not OK to attack the person rather than the ideas.

Secondly, while I don’t claim to be an expert, I am not clueless about the Regulatory Standards Bill.   I have researched this bill, I made a submission during the consultation period (which was open over the Christmas break and involved answering 36 detailed and somewhat leading questions), and I will make another submission on the revised bill this week.

Here are five of the many reasons why I strongly oppose the Regulatory Standards Bill:

1. There is no reference to our founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and there was no consultation with Māori during its drafting.  This is a gross oversight and a violation of the Crown’s obligations to honour Te Tiriti.
2. The bill also ignores environmental needs and the needs of communities, particularly vulnerable communities.
3. By excluding the above, this bill undermines exactly what it is set up to improve, i.e. ensuring good regulation which is “designed, implemented, and monitored so that it achieves its objectives, and its benefits outweigh its negative impacts.”  Under this bill, it would be comparatively easy to implement legislation that causes harm to Māori, to the environment and to communities.
4. The proposed Regulatory Standards Board has the power to scrutinise both new and existing legislation on consistency with the (flawed) principles of this bill.  And who appoints the board?  The Minister of Regulations, currently our Deputy Minister, David Seymour.  This is a scary consolidation of power.
5. Furthermore, there does not actually seem to be major problems in our regulatory practice that need fixing.   The World Bank put us in the top 2% in terms of regulatory quality in 2023 at 98.58%.

My short conversation with Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour yesterday made me more concerned than ever about the Regulatory Standards Bill.

So please join me in making a submission opposing this bill.  Here is the link for writing a submission – short and sweet is fine.   To find out more, Melanie Nelson’s useful page of links has almost everything you need to know, including articles, an explainer and guide to writing submissions, examples of other submissions, analysis from legal experts and consultation reports.   Submissions must be completed by 1pm, Monday June 23.

Finally, Deputy Prime Minister, if you happen to be reading this, I ask again for the Regulatory Standard Bill to be withdrawn.

And a little more courtesy would be appreciated too.