NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Budget 2025
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Economy

Brian Fallow: Time to clear regulatory muddle

Brian Fallow
By Brian Fallow
Columnist·NZ Herald·
15 May, 2013 05:30 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Typically the Government announces, often at Budget time, in high-level terms some tax change it proposes. Photo / Thinkstock
Typically the Government announces, often at Budget time, in high-level terms some tax change it proposes. Photo / Thinkstock

Typically the Government announces, often at Budget time, in high-level terms some tax change it proposes. Photo / Thinkstock

Brian Fallow
Opinion by Brian Fallow
Brian Fallow is a former economics editor of The New Zealand Herald
Learn more
Productivity Commission highlights poor relationship and interaction between central and local government.

Local government is where a lot of the governing people care about goes on.

Its regulatory responsibilities range widely, from the use of land and other resources under the Resource Management Act, through building consents and standards enforcement, food safety and waste management, to liquor licensing and gambling. To name but a few.

The overwhelming majority of these regulatory functions have been given to local bodies by central Government rather than undertaken on their own initiative.

The result seems to be a build-up of mutual dissatisfaction, to put it no more strongly, with local government accusing central policymakers of indifference to the practical difficulties of what they require and central Government frustrated by patchy and variable implementation of its legislated wishes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Businesses and households are caught in the muddle. So the Productivity Commission was set the task of inquiring into local government's regulatory performance and identifying ways of improving it.

It included looking at the processes by which regulations are made and principles for allocating responsibilities between central and local government.

Its final report and recommendations were delivered this week.

Local Government New Zealand chief executive Malcolm Alexander said the commission's process had set the standard for how engagement with local government should occur.

"We may not agree with everything that is in there [the report] but we cannot fault the process. They went everywhere and talked to everyone," he said.

By contrast, in the Government's review of the Resource Management Act consultation with local authorities occurred quite late in the piece.

Discover more

Opinion

Brian Rudman: Time to set Paula Bennett on to tax cheats

16 Apr 05:30 PM
Opinion

Brian Fallow: Austerity's for booms, not slumps

08 May 05:30 PM
Opinion

Thomas Pippos: Tax reform always on Budget agenda

14 May 05:30 PM
Economy

IMF picks out housing risks

15 May 05:30 PM

That is the sort of thing the commission is keen to see change.

It advocates a process - embodied in a "partners in regulation" protocol to be agreed between the two levels of government - broadly along the lines of the way tax policy is developed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The generic tax policy process, in place since the mid-1990s, puts a lot of emphasis on early and meaningful consultation, particularly with tax practitioners, before changes to the tax laws are enacted.

Typically the Government announces, often at Budget time, in high-level terms some tax change it proposes.

A round or two of public consultation follows, so those who will have to work with the new regime can identify practical difficulties and unintended, even perverse, consequences.

Compliance costs and other trade-offs are weighed, potential anomalies and other boundary issues are identified, all before the legislation is drafted and the final select committee deliberation occurs.

It also gives officials opportunities to explain to interested parties the rationale behind proposed reforms.

Such a process is time-consuming and the results are not always satisfactory, but it beats the legislate in haste, repent at leisure approach.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It is an advantage of living in a small country with short lines of communication and apparently draws admiring or envious comments from other tax jurisdictions.

Whether this approach of early warning and extensive consultation can be replicated across the broad gamut of regulatory design remains to be seen. But it is worth a try.

"One key weakness is the poor relationship and interaction between central and local government," the commission says.

"This is, in part, due to the different views and understanding of the roles, obligations and accountabilities of the two spheres of government."

The commission would like to see institutionalised clear and systematic ways of thinking about what the division of labour between central and local government should be.

"Things to consider when choosing who should set the regulatory standards include where the costs and benefits are likely to fall; how those responsible for setting the standards can be held to account for decisions; and the pros and cons of accepting that regulatory outcomes may vary between regions."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Local and national responsibilities can overlap. A clear example is Auckland's housing crisis, which has become an issue of macro-economic importance for the whole country.

Whatever you think of the result of its intervention, to argue that it is none of the Government's business and should be left to Aucklanders is fatuous.

Businesses often complain about inconsistent applications of some regulatory standard from one council to another. But we have to remember that the phrase "local government" masks a huge variety of scale and resources, ranging from the Super City to sparsely populated rural district councils.

Some have to contend with the demographic pressures of a rising population, others with declining and ageing populations constraining their revenue base.

Central government agencies have few senior officials with an in-depth understanding of the government sector, the commission says, while many of the local authorities struggle to maintain the technical capability needed to administer complex regulations.

Consultative mechanisms are needed to identify gaps in resources and capability that may prevent councils from achieving the results central Government is seeking, and how those gaps will be addressed, it says.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On the basis that councils with limited resources have to set priorities for their monitoring and enforcement activities, it is important they do so based on a sound appraisal of where the greatest risks to their communities lie.

Mechanisms for pooling experience among councils and with central government agencies should assist in that process, the commission suggests.

In the end local preferences and priorities will vary.

If they did not, as Alexander points out, if one size fitted all, there would be no need for local government at all.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Economy

Premium
Opinion

Liam Dann: Kiwis need to save their way out of this financial hole

24 May 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Fran O’Sullivan: Nicola Willis' Budget is pragmatic, ruthless but also generous

23 May 09:00 PM
World

‘Going nowhere’: Trump reignites EU trade war with 50% tariff threat

23 May 08:22 PM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Watch: Fire engulfs AT bus, driver praised for 'fantastic job' getting passengers off
New Zealand

Watch: Fire engulfs AT bus, driver praised for 'fantastic job' getting passengers off

25 May 09:00 AM
Watch: Three injured fishermen rescued from rocks after boat capsizes
Waikato Herald

Watch: Three injured fishermen rescued from rocks after boat capsizes

25 May 08:43 AM
'I was young and naive': Rust armourer released from prison
Entertainment

'I was young and naive': Rust armourer released from prison

25 May 08:18 AM
Warriors home run busted by Raiders
Warriors

Warriors home run busted by Raiders

25 May 08:14 AM
'Reclaiming strength': Billy Joel's daughter shares update on his recovery
Entertainment

'Reclaiming strength': Billy Joel's daughter shares update on his recovery

25 May 08:07 AM

Latest from Economy

Premium
Liam Dann: Kiwis need to save their way out of this financial hole

Liam Dann: Kiwis need to save their way out of this financial hole

24 May 05:00 PM

Government moves to boost KiwiSaver contributions are a good start but should go further.

Premium
Fran O’Sullivan: Nicola Willis' Budget is pragmatic, ruthless but also generous

Fran O’Sullivan: Nicola Willis' Budget is pragmatic, ruthless but also generous

23 May 09:00 PM
‘Going nowhere’: Trump reignites EU trade war with 50% tariff threat

‘Going nowhere’: Trump reignites EU trade war with 50% tariff threat

23 May 08:22 PM
Premium
Three apartment developments first to get approval for Crown underwrites worth $75.5m

Three apartment developments first to get approval for Crown underwrites worth $75.5m

23 May 12:00 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search