Bad Regulation Holds Us Back

New Zealand loves to regulate but it doesn’t always get it right and mistakes are costly, so Straterra welcomes discussion on a Regulatory Standards Bill, says chief executive Josie Vidal.

"There has been some handwringing over this proposed bill but the purpose of the discussion document we have submitted on, is to thrash out how we can improve the quality of new and existing regulation because it sure needs improvement," Vidal says.

"We agree with the sentiment in the discussion document that bad regulation can stifle innovation and give rise to numerous unintended consequences, and we have examples of that in the minerals sector.

"Innovation is critical to New Zealand’s economic recovery so it is important to have an enabling regulatory environment, not one that blocks innovation every step of the way.

"We agree with the observation from the Legislation Design and Advisory Committee that in New Zealand, there is a tendency to use legislation in cases where it is not strictly required, or to address matters already covered in existing legislation, creating confusing duplications.

"There are also several areas of overlapping regulations, certainly in relation to the minerals sector, where duplication and/or contradictions occur.

"These are time and money wasters for everyone.

"The bill would provide a set of principles for responsible regulation which would act as criteria against which new or existing regulation could be assessed. This makes a lot of sense.

"We appreciate that some of the principles would be open to interpretation so we support guidelines being used to determine consistency. To future proof the bill our preference would be that changes of government did not alter the legislation but rather they had the freedom to amend the guidelines. We can’t have a regulatory environment where everything changes every three years; it is too unstable for us as a trading nation reliant on international investment.

"Where the minerals sector encounters flawed regulation, our preference is to sort it out directly with the relevant government departments or ministers. However, this is not always the case and so the establishment of the Regulatory Standards Board, and other components of this proposed bill, give confidence that flawed regulation can be fixed promptly.

"Straterra supports the introduction of a Regulatory Standards Bill as broadly described in the discussion document and we will continue to submit and discuss our ideas with lawmakers as this progresses."

Straterra is the industry association representing New Zealand’s minerals and mining sector. Its submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill Discussion Document is here.

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