ACT leader David Seymour, as Minister for Regulation, is responsible for the bill that was part of the National-Act coalition agreement. Photo: MARIKA KHABAZI / RNZ
ACT leader David Seymour says the Regulatory Standards Bill will "help New Zealand get its mojo back", as Cabinet signs off on a "detailed proposal" for the legislation he says will shine a light on bad lawmaking.
It comes days after an urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim regarding the Bill was accepted, with claimants saying the Bill - if enacted - would breach Te Tiriti and cause significant prejudice to Māori.
Seymour, as Minister for Regulation, is responsible for the bill that was agreed to in the National-Act coalition agreement. The legislation has been 20 years in the making, and comes after three failed attempts to make it law.
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His proposal announced on Wednesday outlined the bill's intention, which he said was to "improve the quality of regulation" by codifying principles of "good regulatory practice".
"In a nutshell, if red tape is holding us back, because politicians find regulating politically rewarding, then we need to make regulating less rewarding for politicians with more sunlight on their activities."
The bill would create a "benchmark for good legislation" through those principles, he said. And it would require those making legislation to openly assess how that legislation is consistent with the principles.
It would create a Regulatory Standards Board that would independently consider whether current and future legislation is consistent with the principles. The Board would also assess complaints independently or at the direction of the Minister. It will be able to make non-binding recommendations.
The principles themselves were proposed as the rule of law, liberties, taking of property, taxes, fees and levies, the role of the courts, and good law-making.
Seymour said the Bill required politicians and officials to "ask and answer" questions before placing "restrictions on citizens' freedoms".
"What problem are we trying to solve? What are the costs and benefits? Who pays the costs and gets the benefits? What restrictions are being placed on the use and exchange of private property?"
Where inconsistencies are found, the responsible Minister must justify that departure from the set principles, Seymour said.
The proposal stated the bill would also give the Ministry of Regulation new powers, as it aimed to bring the "same level of discipline to regulatory management" the Public Finance Act brings to public spending. It said the ministry will play a role similar to that of the Treasury, but in relation to regulation.
The ministry would also be required to produce a regular report for the minister on the state of the Regulatory Management System.
The ministry would have the power to require public service agencies to provide information to support that requirement, and it would have information-gathering powers to enable it to conduct regulatory reviews.
These powers would not override restrictions on information sharing already set in law.
Seymour said this would not stop politicians or officials making bad laws, but it made it "transparent that they're doing it."
"It makes it easier for voters to identify those responsible for making bad rules. Over time, it will improve the quality of rules we all have to live under by changing how politicians behave."
The bill would now be drawn up by the Parliamentary Council Office, and Seymour would take that to Cabinet for consideration on the 19th May, seeking approval to introduce it to the House.
Tribunal claim
Just last week the group behind last year's Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti was granted an urgent hearing at the Waitangi Tribunal regarding the Regulatory Standards Bill.
The claim alleges that - if enacted - the bill would breach Te Tiriti and cause significant prejudice to Māori.
Toitū te Tiriti spokesperson Eru Kapa-Kingi told RNZ the lack of information around the bill was itself a source of anxiety for Māori.
From Toitū te Tiriti's perspective the Regulatory Standards Bill seems like the "more covert, but more aggressive version of the Treaty Principles Bill," which was voted down at Second Reading, he said.
Seymour said he would be interested to hear if the group had a problem with what he was proposing, which was to make lawmaking more transparent.
"But I suspect this is just another publicity stunt from a Māori Party protest group."
Consultation on a discussion document about the bill had been gaining increasing public interest earlier this year in the wake of the Treaty Principles Bill.
The Ministry of Regulation received almost 23,000 submissions, around 80 percent of them in the final four days of the consultation period.
The legislation itself has a long history. A report written by Dr Bryce Wilkinson for the Business Roundtable, now the New Zealand Initiative, became the foundations for one of the earlier versions of the bill.
Wilkinson said economists believed good quality regulation was where the "benefits to people who are affected by it exceed the costs to people who are affected by it".
"So it's regulation which makes people better off."
Emeritus Professor Jane Kelsey had long opposed the intention of the legislation, saying it was "basically about the protection of private property and wealth."
She said the ACT Party's priority for private property rights excluded balancing considerations, things like social or environmental factors, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
"All of those things ... will be subordinated, if not, deemed irrelevant, in the policy and legislative making processes," said Kelsey.
