Regulatory Standards Bill – WTF?

So you’ve done your submission on the Treaty Principles Bill (TPB) and you’re feeling a little bit proud because you’ve done your bit? Sorry, but there’s bad news. It turns out the Treaty Principles Bill was just a bone that the government threw at us to keep us busy. The bill is probably never going to become law anyway.

The bill that will become law (because all coalition parties support it) is the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB) – and it is probably even more fundamental than the Treaty Principles one.

While the TPB attempts to redefine what the Te Tiriti means, the RSB essentially says that Te Tiriti doesn’t matter anyway. The RSB is not at the committee stage (like the TPB), it is in the consultation phase, which means there is no actual wording of it yet. But there is a draft paper, and feedback on that paper closes on 13 January. After it is drafted it will then go through the Select Committee process (unless it is passed under urgency, which this government has done over 100 times so far).

The Regulatory Standards Bill is all about the process of making new laws or regulations – it sets out the rules that government or government agencies have to follow when creating new legislation. These rules already exist. For example they include that what is called a Regulatory Impact Statement should be prepared, which checks how the proposed new law will impact existing laws or if it contradicts any of them – and that includes the Bill Of Rights Act and Te Tiriti.

This is what the government is determined to change. The new rules will be primarily focussed on “property rights”, i.e. what the ACT party is all about: real estate, mining rights, company shares, etc. The document states that:

Legislation should not take or impair, or authorise the taking or impairing, of property without the consent of the owner...

(There is a certain irony in the fact that had this been in place in the 1800s, the entire country would still be in Maori ownership).

But the most important thing in the document is that new legislation will not have to comply with all of the rights set out in the Bill Of Rights Act and:

In addition, it is not proposed that the Bill would include a principle relating to the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

In other words, Te Tiriti doesn’t matter. There is no obligation for new laws to take the founding document of Aotearoa into account. (And it therefore also doesn’t matter what the principles of the Treaty are).

Another concerning aspect of the RSB is that any disputes will no longer be handled by the courts (which are independent of the government) but by a Regulatory Standards Board, whose members are appointed by the Minister for Regulation (i.e. David Seymour). This opens up a broader avenue for companies to challenge any regulations (e.g. environmental regulations for mining in a National Park), who are now guaranteed a sympathetic audience. On top of that, the Board doesn’t decide anything, it makes recommendations, which the Minister (see above) can adopt or ignore.

This bill is the reason why David Seymour’s Ministry of Regulations exists.

Just like the Treaty Principles Bill, he is making it out to be about fairness and prosperity for all, when it will really only benefit property owners and corporations.

Because this Bill has been agreed to by all three coalition parties, it is even more important to stop it.

You can make a submission at the Ministry’s website: regulation.govt.nz

Further reading: 

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