Why Oppose the Regulatory Standards Bill
This is not about better regulation. It’s about rewriting the law to favour private power, remove public safeguards, and dismantle democratic oversight.
Here’s what the bill does, why it matters, and how it reflects a deeper shift toward silence, control, and constitutional erosion.
What This Bill Really Does
- Fakes accountability: It creates a review board handpicked by the Minister — no public input, no independence, no legal bite.
- Lets ministers ignore their own rules: The “principles” have no legal force. Ministers can violate them at will, with no court challenge possible.
- Allows entire laws to be exempted: The Minister can exclude anything from scrutiny — making the bill’s own checks optional.
- Deletes Te Tiriti from the conversation: There is no mention of Treaty rights, no cultural protection, and no Māori accountability framework.
Why This Threatens Everyone
- Strips away real oversight: What looks like transparency is actually theatre — replacing public challenge with scripted performance.
- Normalises corporate rule: It embeds deregulation as default — leaving no room for values like justice, environment, culture, or care.
- Concentrates unchecked power: One Minister sets the rules, decides the exceptions, and reviews himself.
- Prepares the ground for future abuse: It follows a larger pattern: weakening legal guardrails, silencing opposition, and centralising control.
The Architect Behind It
David Seymour, leader of the ACT Party and Minister for Regulation, wrote this bill. His record shows:
- A consistent pattern of removing legal review, limiting consultation, and bypassing public process.
- A deep hostility to Treaty obligations, fairness frameworks, and institutional independence.
- A habit of calling it “freedom” while making control harder to trace and power easier to hold.
This is not about simplifying law. It’s about rigging it — to suit an ideology that sees equity as a cost, and oversight as an enemy.
If You See What’s Happening
Let it be clear: this bill is not a reform. It’s a blueprint for silence — written in legal ink.
If you believe law should protect people, not just property… if you believe in real checks, real rights, and real responsibility — now is the time to speak.
“This isn’t regulatory clarity — it’s permission for power to write its own report card.” — Ukes Baha