New Zealand's coalition government has made "cutting red tape" a signature project of this term. Two things sit at its centre: David Seymour's Ministry for Regulation, stood up in 2024, and the Regulatory Standards Act, passed in November 2025, with its substantive parts taking effect from 1 July 2026. The pitch is simple: fewer, better rules, and a transparency test every new law must pass. The reality is more contested — including pushback from the government's own officials, and a sharp inconsistency where the same ministers add red tape and secrecy elsewhere.

What's happening:

• The Regulatory Standards Act sets out principles (heavy on private property and individual liberty) that lawmakers must measure bills against, and creates a Regulatory Standards Board to flag inconsistencies. The checks are disclosure-based, not binding.
• It passed its third reading on 13 November 2025 on coalition votes (National, ACT, NZ First) against Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori.
• Parliament received about 159,000 submissions, with more than 98% opposed. Seymour argued raw submission counts are not a survey and reflect "misleading online campaigns".
• The Ministry's own analysis of an earlier round of feedback recorded the top concerns that the bill would solve "a problem that doesn't exist", add "duplication and complexity" to lawmaking, and "undermine future Parliaments and democracy".
• The Ministry's regulatory impact statement put the minimum cost at $18 million a year across the public service; documents showed officials feared a $50m–$60m a year bill, with MBIE warning that was likely the low end and could slow legislation by weeks.
• The new Ministry for Regulation is bigger and costlier than the Productivity Commission it replaced — Seymour wanted it two to three times the size — with average staff salaries above $150,000.
• The Waitangi Tribunal found that enacting the law without meaningful consultation with Māori would breach Treaty principles of partnership and active protection.

Where the parties stand:

• ACT (David Seymour, Regulations Minister) is the driving force, framing the agenda as more transparent, accountable lawmaking. Supporters include Business NZ and the NZ Initiative.
• National and NZ First voted it through; Winston Peters has separately signalled discomfort with parts of it.
• Labour and the Greens opposed it and back a repeal. Critics include Sir Geoffrey Palmer (a former Prime Minister), Dame Anne Salmond and Professor Jane Kelsey, who signed an open letter calling for the bill to be dropped; Palmer called it "the strangest piece" of legislation he had seen.
• The deregulation drive runs alongside replacing the RMA and the Fast-track Approvals Act, which centralises more decisions with ministers.

The contradiction: while one arm of government cuts rules, others add them. Fisheries Minister Shane Jones overrode official advice to set a $50,000 fine for leaking on-board fishing camera footage — five times what the Ministry of Justice recommended — and added an OIA exemption the Ombudsman opposed (see orca set-net deaths). Jones then delayed his own bill in June 2026, saying it needed more "panel beating".

What to watch:

• How the Regulatory Standards Board operates from 1 July 2026, and whether disclosure-based checks actually slow or shape new laws.
• Whether a future Labour-led government repeals the Act, as promised.
• Whether the "cutting red tape" brand survives the cost figures and the secrecy provisions added elsewhere.

Note: positions on Treaty principles and Māori consultation are contested and are presented here as attributed to the named parties and the Waitangi Tribunal, not as settled fact.