Regulation Minister David Seymour said the report would be useful in reviewing regulation. Photo / Alyse Wright
Regulation Minister David Seymour said the report would be useful in reviewing regulation. Photo / Alyse Wright
A new report has identified that New Zealand has more than 260 regulators, which Regulation Minister David Seymour says drives costs and impacts productivity.
The report from the Ministry of Regulation released today shows there are 96 central government departments and Crown entities, 79 local government regulators, 60 statutorybodies, committees and tribunals, and 32 other types of regulators.
It doesn’t assess the performance of these regulators, but is instead intended to paint a picture of the scale of regulation in New Zealand.
It suggests that co-ordination is needed across organisations, which is often informal, with no agency having a complete view of the regulatory system.
The system has also grown through “increasing legislative detail” with laws becoming “longer and more complex”. Regulators are also “unevenly resourced and only partly visible” with “capability, funding and workforce effort ... not consistently distributed or well understood”.
The conclusion is that the system is difficult for New Zealanders and businesses to navigate, especially when risks or conditions change.
“When no organisation has full visibility or clear responsibility for the whole system, insights from delivering regulation are not always used to improve system design or legislation,” the report said.
It also shows there is “significant variation” in the number of regulatory organisations that come under each minister, with some holding many more than others.
Simeon Brown, who holds the health, energy and state-owned enterprises portfolios, has 32 regulatory organisations under him, with 28 in health.
Many regulators come under minister Simeon Brown. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Seymour said the report revealed “a twisted spaghetti of regulators who don’t just cost money to fund, but suck up people’s time and force others to give up completely”.
“This analysis shows hundreds of regulatory organisations operating under hundreds of acts, with multiple agencies often responsible for the same issue. This drives high costs, long delays and confusion, while weakening accountability.”
He said this report would be used by the Ministry for Regulation to “support a sustained programme to identify overlap, duplication and unnecessary complexity”.
“The ministry will maintain and progressively update the mapping ensuring it remains current, usable, and valuable over time.
“This will help agencies review regulations they are responsible for, as required by the Regulatory Standards Act 2025.
“This will drive change in the size of government and our mission to give taxpayers a fairer deal. Every dollar not wasted on bureaucracy is a dollar that can stay with the people who earned it or be spent on the frontline services New Zealanders actually rely on.”
