The Regulatory Standards Bill is Back

The Haps

Parliament is back with a big week of legislation to come. The Regulatory Standards Bill will take another step, so will the law change to allow any medicine approved in two other developed countries to be used here, and changes to education law to promote attendance. Meanwhile, Labour’s capital gains tax threat and Te Pāti Māori’s civil war will take valuable attention from these efforts to fix what matters to New Zealanders.

The Regulatory Standards Bill is Back

The Regulatory Standards Bill is back in Parliament this week, so Free Press recaps what it means and why it drives the left mad.

Free Press has heard a story from a few people that sums up why New Zealand needs to change to be wealthier. When a Kiwi business delegation visited the Dutch ATR (their Ministry of Regulation), the Regulatory Standards Bill caused all sorts of confusion. The Dutch had read it, and they liked it, but they thought it was already law in New Zealand.

When the Kiwis explained it wasn’t law yet, and was controversial, they were even more confused. They thought the Regulatory Standards Bill was perfectly sensible, and couldn’t understand why anyone would object to it. It’s no coincidence that Dutch workers are twice as wealthy as us.

Back here in New Zealand the Left have lost their proverbial over the Bill, writing endless columns about how it will be the end of the world as they know it. Many of the things they say are misguided or plain wrong. Particularly, their claims that the Regulatory Standards Bill is undemocratic, and that it selects a narrow set of values, are wrong.

Is it undemocratic? Sometimes it’s best to ask what the Bill itself says:

The purposes of this Act are to— promote the accountability of the Executive to Parliament…and support Parliament’s ability to scrutinise Bills; and support Parliament in overseeing and controlling the use of delegated powers to make legislation.

In its own words, the purpose of the Regulatory Standards Bill is to make Government Ministers and their Officials accountable to Parliament. It goes on to say: Failure to comply with this Act does not affect— any power to make any legislation; or the validity or operation of any legislation.

Far from undermining democracy as the critics claimed, the Bill preserves the Parliament’s right to make laws because it is elected by the People. It also requires more information be provided to Parliament so MPs, and their voters, can make up their own mind.

It requires new laws or regulations be assessed against the Principles of the Bill, they include: legislation should not unduly diminish a person’s liberty, personal security, freedom of choice or action, or rights to own, use, and dispose of property, except as is necessary to provide for, or protect, any such liberty, freedom, or right of another person… and …legislation should not take or severely impair, or authorise the taking or severe impairment of, property without the consent of the owner…

The Left say this is radical stuff, but it comes from ancient common law principles that were discovered by English courts over the centuries. You shouldn’t just take other people’s stuff or interfere with their lives for the hell of it, even if you’re the Government.

They say principles like the Treaty, the environment, equity, culture, wellbeing, public health and other aims should be in the Principles. That’s a misunderstanding of the Bill’s purpose. The purpose of the Bill is not to endorse the aim of a law, it is to alert people how pursuing that aim will affect people’s basic rights.

Every law that comes before Parliament already has an aim. The earthquake legislation was designed to reduce deaths and injuries from earthquakes, a kind of public health goal. It did that by placing very expensive restrictions on people using their buildings. It basically said strengthen or destroy. A few people who owned heritage buildings they couldn’t pull down or afford to strengthen were left in an impossible position.

The earthquake law led to empty buildings, costs in the billions, and heartache for New Zealanders. In reality, fewer than 500 people have died from earthquakes in the history of our country, sadly more die from heart disease each month. Now the law is being repealed.

The earthquake law is just one of so many laws with some high-minded aim that restrict liberties and impair property rights. The costs are born by the many, but they add up to more than the benefits. The Regulatory Standards Bill that alerts voters when this is happening can only be good for New Zealand’s long-term success.

We look forward to ACT fixing New Zealand’s Regulatory State with this Bill, it’s a very good example of a serious, intelligent policy that no other Party would put on the table.