Brooke van Velden: Speech to ACT Rally 2025

Speech to ACT Rally 2025, Sunday 13 July, 2025

Good afternoon everyone, it’s good to see you all.

I can’t believe we’re over halfway through this Government’s first term. It’s been a busy 20 months. And while each week I get sucked down into Wellington and the bustle of Parliament, I’m always thinking of real New Zealand, you guys here, and people out there, the thinkers and do-ers, the workers, the business owners, employers, and entrepreneurs doing their best to hustle, produce and pay staff. The people that Governments really need to operate and keep our country moving forward.

I wish to thank all those Kiwis who get up each day, even when it’s tough out there, and keep going, thinking, dreaming, producing and employing. You are the economy, we work for you.

Since getting into Government, I’ve achieved significant changes to get us closer to this being a reality. I’ve re-instated 90-day trials, removed fair pay agreements, and have turned my mind to the problems making it more difficult than necessary to do business and employ more Kiwis. The main one, health and safety.

I actually get excited about health and safety now. Not about the technicalities, I swear I’m not quite that boring, but about how real change can be transformative for companies, workers, productivity and culture around the country.

Last year, I travelled across New Zealand hearing from farmers, volunteer organisations, construction workers, manufacturers, and well, anyone who wanted to talk, and it painted a picture that we were far too focused on paperwork and box ticking rather than actual risk reduction.

A culture of fear is stifling innovation, depressing productivity, and sucking the joy out of life.

I heard you and I’ve acted. 

The Government will be moving forward to create a carve-out from health and safety law for small, low-risk businesses; we’ll be changing the law so the main purpose and what everyone needs to focus on is reducing and managing critical risks, or those actions that lead to death or serious injury.

In some cases, even when the law is fit for purpose on paper, we see overcompliance. A hundred road cones when ten would do. Again, that culture of fear. The road cone hotline I’ve set up is really just a small example of a new direction in safety: I’ve instructed WorkSafe to be more helpful to businesses with little time and money by giving up-front guidance.

My goal is that businesses will spend less money, time and resource sweating the small stuff and more on their core activities. Businesses and workers will focus on managing critical risks so workers return home to their families and communities at the end of each day.

Making it easier to do the stuff that matters, with less time on paperwork, means Kiwis have more time to grow their business, more money to employ and pay more Kiwis, and more focus on delivering fantastic goods and services that make our lives better.

It’s also about the Kiwi way of life. We want to be able to get out and enjoy the great outdoors, hiking, horse trekking, climbing, and flyfishing. So, I’ve clarified that landowners who allow recreational activity on their land will not be held liable if someone gets hurt.

And we’re learning from lessons of the past. If we ever saw a culture of fear, it was during COVID. Labour delivered a toothless inquiry, so I’ve expanded it and now we finally have public hearings, and real accountability for the decisions that locked us down, shuttered businesses, and divided society.

My belief is that we can move forward with less fear, and more confidence to live safely, freely, equally.

ACT’s work continues, and I can’t wait for my colleagues here to share their progress.

Thank you.