Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says she's not giving up on her bill that would give consumers the right to get goods repaired.
The Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill would compel manufacturers to make repair parts available locally to consumers to extend the lifetime of products and reduce waste.
The legislation was sent to Select Committee after passing its first reading in February with support from Labour, the Greens, Te Pāti Maori and New Zealand First.
It appeared to have enough support to progress into law, but the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee has now recommended, by majority, that the bill not be passed.
What the Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill proposes:
- Retain requirements for manufacturers to make repair facilities, parts, software, tools, and information available to consumers.
- Allow consumers to request that goods be repaired, rather than replaced.
- Prevent the use of unauthorised repairers and parts from voiding manufacturers' guarantees.
Davidson told RNZ New Zealand First appeared to have pulled its support for the legislation.
"The reason we got it through first reading is because we had [support from] all of the opposition parties, plus New Zealand First, so we were able to get it to Select Committee, which was fantastic.
"We heard from submitters, oral submissions, written submissions, overwhelming support for the bill. At the end of the select committee process, the bill was reported back, and, at least at this stage, the New Zealand First members have voted against progressing the bill."
She said she would not give up on the bill, especially when she had adopted changes, like narrowing the goods covered to above $100 in value, at the suggestion of government members.
"It's a little rough to have done all that deep work to make the bill better but the positive is we have now got incredible improvements that we know government members were in support of because they helped us make them.
"So there is massive mandate there for the public to have what they've asked for, which is the right to repair their own goods. "
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said his party had changed its mind because of the bill's "unworkability and cost".
"We said we'd vote it to Select Committee. We get to the Select Committee, we find it's unworkable. Now that's a sound way of proceeding with politics and with policies."
Peters was asked about the concessionary changes Davidson had made to the bill at the request of government ministers.
"Marama Davidson wouldn't know how to build a dog house. Excuse me, I've been a lawyer and acted for thousands of house buyers. I know their costs."
'Serious concerns' about process raised in Select Committee report
The committee's report on the Right To Repair Bill notes opposition parties had "serious concerns" about the way the committee had conducted its work on the bill.
"Opposition members participated in this work in the reasonable expectation that such engagement was aimed at building genuine cross-party agreement," the report said.
"The result was otherwise. The committee spent significant time, and drew on the resources of Parliamentary Counsel and departmental advisors, to explore and draft changes to resolve the concerns of government members that they then ultimately chose not to support," the report states.
"That decision is of course within their rights. But when extensive collaborative work is undertaken with the tacit implication that it might secure support, only for that support to be withheld, the effect is to undermine trust between members.
"It also risks the perception that the process was used to keep the committee occupied rather than to improve the bill, at a cost to the public purse."
The decision comes as the government rolls back a series of waste-reduction measures. The container-return scheme has been scrapped, plastic bans pared back, and product stewardship rules delayed.
In December 2024, the government quietly cancelled several waste minimisation initiatives focused on recycling and kerbside food scraps composting. Four out of five planned policies will no longer go ahead, including mandatory kerbside composting and recycling for all urban areas.
A planned national Circular Economy & Bioeconomy Strategy was also put on hold.
Professor at the University of Auckland and a member of the Right to Repair Coalition Alex Sims told Checkpoint there would be no difference to everyday consumers because nothing had changed.
"It was a bit of a long shot that it would actually get through.
"It just means New Zealand is increasing out of step with the rest of the world because right to repair is, you know, in Europe, the UK and a lot of states in America as well."
She said the bill needed to be narrowed down to have worked.
"The bill was going to protect everything, so just anything that you normally buy for your house, even things that just couldn't be repaired, and that was just seen as being to wide."
Sims said we were not the first country to create a bill like this and that these situations had played out overseas.
"It's not a case that the consumers want it and the manufactures don't, sure it may require a bit of a change in business model but... [at the moment] it's an incredible waste of resources."
She hoped the country could look into what had already been done to make a change.
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