Act leader and Regulation Minister David Seymour says the Regulatory Standards Bill will lead to New Zealanders facing less red tape. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Act leader and Regulation Minister David Seymour says the Regulatory Standards Bill will lead to New Zealanders facing less red tape. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The Waitangi Tribunal is urging the Government to “immediately halt” the Act Party-promoted Regulatory Standards Bill set to be introduced to Parliament on Monday.
In a report, released today, the tribunal condemned the Government not consulting with Māori when developing the legislation, thus violating its Treaty obligation.
The coalition had effectively “dismissed” the views of Māori, despite the Government’s internal advice mirroring some of the concerns raised by Māori, the tribunal said.
In an urgent one-day hearing on the legislation, the Crown did not accept it was breaching te Tiriti/the Treaty in developing the bill.
The tribunal disagreed, saying the Crown’s actions constituted a breach, specifically the principles of partnership and active protection.
“We recommend the Crown immediately halt the advancement of the Regulatory Standards Bill to allow for meaningful engagement with Māori and the dialogue envisioned by the Treaty partnership.
“We can ... be sure that each step taken to further advance this already well-advanced policy in the absence of meaningful engagement with Māori is likely to accelerate the damage to the Crown-Māori relationship and the stress and uncertainty felt by Māori with regards to the impacts of this legislation.”
“The tribunal’s claims are incorrect. This law increases the transparency of bad lawmaking so New Zealanders face less red tape and regulation and can live better lives. There’s not a single point in their report that disagrees with this.”
Act Party leader David Seymour has dismissed concerns raised by the Waitangi Tribunal over the coalition's Regulatory Standards Bill. Photo / Dean Purcell
What is the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB)?
Passing the RSB is the latest in a years-long attempt by the Act Party to introduce this type of legislation. The bill would introduce principles for responsible regulation, covering things such as the rule of law, the taking of property, fees and levies, and good law-making.
Agencies would need to assess the consistency of bills with those principles. Government departments would need to review their regulatory systems, and the Ministry for Regulation would gain new powers to improve the quality of legislation.
A new regulatory standards board would be established to review whether legislation aligned with the principles. This could be prompted by a complainant, a minister or by the board itself.
Seymour says this would make lawmaking more transparent by shining more “sunlight” on what politicians do and increasing “political penalties of being a bad lawmaker by making it easier for voters to understand making a law for them”.
Eroded trust
The Waitangi Tribunal said the Government’s actions in respect to the bill had “eroded the trust” between Māori and the Crown and threatened long-standing relationships between iwi and the Crown.
“We agree with Professor [Margaret] Mutu’s [a claimant] assessment that in this process, the Crown has signalled that te Tiriti/the Treaty is ‘optional’ rather than foundational to this country’s constitutional framework.
“We recommend the Crown immediately halt the advancement of the Regulatory Standards Bill, to allow for meaningful engagement with Māori and the dialogue envisioned by the Treaty partnership.”
The tribunal said a lack of meaningful engagement caused stress for Māori because of the potential, but unknown, impacts of the legislation.
“Meaningful dialogue about the potential impacts upon Māori rights and interests, as well as what protective measures could be inserted into the bill, could have mitigated this distress.”
Seymour called the tribunal “professional activists” who would not settle for “anything less than perpetual hui through to the heat death of the universe”.
“That’s exactly the culture of obstruction that we’re trying to tackle with this bill.”
Sunlight for some, darkness for others
In unveiling the bill, Seymour said it would make lawmaking more transparent.
“Under the Regulatory Standards Bill, if you don’t ask and answer the right questions before you make a law reform affecting people’s rights then someone can go to the regulatory standards board and make a declaration that actually you’re not a very good lawmaker.”
In a statement this afternoon, he said the RSB would help New Zealand “get its mojo back”.
“It required politicians and officials to ask and answer certain questions before they place 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?
“Ultimately, it’s about transparent lawmaking, less red tape, and better lives. All New Zealanders benefit from these principles.”
But claimants told the Waitangi Tribunal of concerns the bill would detrimentally impact Māori rights, breach te Tiriti/the Treaty and, in the words of Dr Carwyn Jones, “create one of the most fundamental constitutional shifts in our legal history”.
Lawyer Tania Waikato, who represented claimants Toitū Te Tiriti, told the panel that shift would manifest by creating a control gate through which current and new legislation would need to pass.
Waikato said during the hearing that Treaty provisions would never comply with the new regulatory principles, accusing the Government of “slanting the entire playing field against the retention of the existing Treaty principles”.
“In terms of picking the [regulatory] principles... that is where the system itself is creating a breach of te Tiriti because No 1 it is setting up te Tiriti for failure, it is setting up every single Treaty provision for failure.
“The system itself has entrenched a systematic framework that already requires adherence to these principles, which do not come from a treaty, they come from the Act Party, and [has] elevated them to a status by which every single law must be assessed.”
