Submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill - January 2025

13 January 2025

Ministry for Regulation

PO Box 577

Wellington 6140

Via e-mail: RSBconsultation@regulation.govt.nz

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Re: Submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill

The Federation of Business and Professional Women New Zealand (BPW NZ) promotes the rights of vulnerable members of our communities, particularly women. We believe that parliamentary processes and legislation should empower women by removing barriers to that empowerment. We also believe that all legislation, regulations and government policy should include a gender impact analysis.

Our recommendation is that the Bill be abandoned.

1. Comments

1. Te Tiriti

1. We are concerned that the Bill makes no reference to Te Tiriti as our founding document.

2. Our concern with this is the potential for the outcome of this legislation to block any incorporation of Te Tīriti into the regulatory discussion, ie: it would exclude Te Tīriti from our law making & regulatory systems.

1. Regulation

   1. We are further concerned that this bill it will remove any role of the courts to provide regulatory oversight or interpretation

   2. All proposed legislation or ministerial statutes would be under the scope of the new regulatory board who would not be obligated to consider broader societal impacts. 

   3. We are further concerned that this regulatory board will be selected by a small number of ministers leading to centralising powers.  

   4. Our concern with this is that it could undermine the ability of current and future governments to regulate harmful business practices or corporate exploitation, even if such regulations are in the public interest

   5. We are further concerned that such a board is in danger of not being transparent, nor accessible to all and might not, potentially, operate with normal legal principles such as precedent and the participation of affected parties.

   6. This would make it very difficult for the government to create laws or regulation that limit property rights for a public or environmental good, e.g. swimmable rivers or slowing climate change.

3. Climate Change

1. Climate change protections might be blocked because they “interfere” with business profits. For example, stopping development in flood zones could spawn cases by property developers to claim loss of business by such a move

2. Our concern also is that there will be no obligations to consider climate change in regards business practice and processes. 

3. Governments & local communities alike will see their abilities to hold corporations accountable for environmental effects undermined.

4. International Practice

1. This Bill over-rides good international practice

2. New Zealand stopped agreeing to dispute resolution clauses in international free trade agreements because they placed private good over public good or proper government action. 

1. Evidence and history

1. The forward claims that 'most of New Zealand's problems can be traced to poor productivity, and poor productivity can be traced to poor regulations'. However, this ignores important evidence-based issues such as income equality gaps, housing security and equity of opportunity and outcomes in health, education, etc.

2. We are further concerned that past lessons from de-regulatory failures will be (intentionally or otherwise) forgotten. For example, leaky buildings and  the Pike river mine disaster just to. Upon investigations, the root cause of these two disasters were traced back to repealing of certain regulations which aimed to keep work practices and safety measures in check. 

3. We are concerned that this bill will ensure that when our country suffers future disasters or adverse events, there will be little to no ability to hold powers to account or even regulate and/or change laws to improve safety and work practices. 

2. We do not believe this bill empowers women and we ask that as gender impact analysis be carried out to ensure this bill does not adversely affect women.

3. Our Organisation

1. BPW New Zealand speaks strongly for women in international forums and works hard in relation to the advancement of the status of women. Our organisation’s aims are to link professional and business women throughout the world, to provide support, to lobby for change and to promote the ongoing advancement of women. We work for equal opportunities and status for all women in economic, civil and political life and the removal of discrimination in all countries. We promote our aims and organise our operating structure without distinction as to race, language or religion.

2. BPW NZ is an affiliate of BPW International. BPW International is one of the most influential international networks of business and professional women with affiliates in over 120 countries in five continents. BPW International has General Consultative Status at the United Nations through the UN Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC). This enables BPW International to appoint official representatives to UN agencies worldwide and to accredit members to attend specific UN meetings.

3. Our submission is informed by our governments commitments to United Nations mechanisms, including the:

4. Beijing Platform for Action

5. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

6. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

7. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

8. ILO Violence and Harassment Convention 190

9. UN Women’s Women’s Empowerment Principles

10. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

4. Thank you for the opportunity to provide our submission and we hope that our comments are of use. BPW NZ would be interested in further discussing our submission with you and being involved in more consultation engagements should they occur. We would appreciate the opportunity to continue to offer a voice for all women in your work. We ask that as much notice as possible is provided for invitations, this gives us time to engage with our membership and provide more informed input.

Ngā mihi

Janet Gibb, President