Latest news with #redTape
The Herald
13 hours ago
- Business
- The Herald
Proposed bill set to improve the ease of doing business
The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has welcomed the department of trade, industry & competition's (DTIC) commitment to finalising a comprehensive omnibus bill which will reduce unnecessary red tape and improve the ease of doing business. The chamber said this marked a critical step in cutting through excessive regulatory red tape that constrained economic activity, limited investment, and affected business confidence, especially in regions such as the Bay that have huge potential but where investors may become deterred by the onerous requirements and lengthy time frames to implement planned investments. Business Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen said the proposed legislative reforms signalled a long-awaited shift in government's approach, acknowledging the urgent need to dismantle structural barriers that have long held back economic expansion and job creation. 'By targeting key pieces of legislation, including the Infrastructure Development Act, the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, and the International Trade Administration Act, the DTIC is demonstrating the sort of bold policy leadership the country desperately needs,' she said. 'For the metro, this legislative reform package is more than just national policy, and is an action needed to unlock the potential of our local economy, create jobs and revitalise the metro's industrial base. 'This aligns with our strategy of positioning the metro as the Bay of Opportunity and a leading manufacturing base in the African continent.' Van Huyssteen said updating the Infrastructure Development Act would directly benefit Nelson Mandela Bay by enabling faster planning and execution of catalytic infrastructure projects, whether the focus is on maintaining and upgrading ageing water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure, or improving logistics corridors that connect local manufacturers to domestic and global markets. Efficient infrastructure is not just a convenience, it is the foundation of job creation and industrial competitiveness in this metro, she said. Meanwhile, she said reforming the outdated National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act would bring consistency and predictability to the local property development process. 'Bay businesses have long faced frustration with municipal delays, misalignment between departments, and outdated regulatory frameworks. 'Modernising this act will help unlock stalled developments, attract private sector investment, and support spatial transformation in the city. 'Strengthening the International Trade Administration Act is particularly crucial for our region's manufacturing and export sectors, which are under severe strain from cheap imports entering the market. 'A more robust trade enforcement framework will level the playing field for local producers, protect jobs and support localisation. 'Supporting local products is key to the Bay's economic turnaround. 'When local businesses, from car assemblers to packaging manufacturers, are supported, they hire locally, pay local suppliers and reinvest in the community. 'This multiplies economic activity and helps reduce unemployment. 'Every purchase made from a local business helps sustain jobs in sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, services, technology and those deeply rooted within communities. 'For one person employed directly in manufacturing, four direct jobs are created downstream. 'For every one person employed directly, 10 people are supported.' The CEO said further that choosing an SA-made product enabled investment into local community support programmes and initiatives to help address critical areas of need such as education, skills development, hunger and poverty alleviation, health care and sports development. 'However, the chamber emphasises that regulatory reform alone is not enough. Its success hinges on resolving systemic challenges that continue to affect business confidence and erode our metro's potential.' These included: Logistics inefficiencies at local ports and within the rail network that raise operational costs for local industries; Unreliable water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure, which has severely affected manufacturers and other small to large businesses; Widespread crime and safety concerns, which increase the cost of doing business and discourage new investment; Lack of delivery of basic municipal services; and Lack of co-ordinated implementation, which continues to stall high-impact projects that could drive job creation and industrial renewal. 'The chamber believes that bold legislation must be matched by bold execution. 'The implementation of these reforms must be backed by real accountability and supported by partnerships at both a national and local level. 'The business community cannot continue to operate in an environment of uncertainty, weak infrastructure and unreliable service delivery. 'As such, we urge the government to stay the course and ensure that this initiative moves from intention to impact and helps the country chart a sustainable economic path which will create much needed jobs.' The Herald
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Why opponents and supporters of the Regulatory Standards Bill are so far apart
Versions of the Regulatory Standards Bill have been introduced the House three times, all have failed to become reality. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins A moment years in the making arrived with a grin from David Seymour. The ACT Party leader stood in the house to introduce the Regulatory Standards Bill for its first reading in mid-May. It's legislation that Seymour has long championed, the origins of which date back to the early 2000s. Now he hopes it will finally pass into law and reshape how governments create legislation in Aotearoa. Declaring himself "extremely excited", he framed the bill as a much-needed removal of red tape and a win for transparency. "This bill is a crucial piece of legislation for improving the long-term quality of regulation in our country and, ultimately, allowing New Zealanders to live longer, happier, healthier, and wealthier lives. But the political left have got themselves in quite a lather about the Regulatory Standards Bill," Seymour said. He was right: the left is mad. Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson described the bill as the most dangerous piece of legislation that the House of Representatives has seen. "It seeks to destroy the very foundation of who we are. It seeks to remove Te Tiriti o Waitangi from lawmaking … It would put private property above protecting the environment or public safety or indigenous rights." Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer pointed out Te Tiriti was not mentioned once in the bill. "The silence on the impact for Te Tiriti is on purpose. The bill promotes equal treatment before the law, but it opens the door [for] government to attack every Māori equity initiative." On one side, Seymour's supporters see a bill about better law-making and transparency. On the other, critics are calling it the "Treaty Principles Bill 2.0" and warn it could gut treaty protections. How can one bill on such a seemingly bland topic have two such drastically divergent interpretations? According to the Ministry for Regulation, the proposed Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB) seeks to "establish a benchmark for good legislation" by introducing a set of principles of "responsible regulation". Essentially, the bill creates a set of rules that all lawmakers must consider and follow in regulation design. The rules or principles laid out in the are grouped into six different sections: the rule of law, liberties, taking of property, tax, fees and levies, the role of courts, and good law-making. The key omission, for critics, is that there are no references to Te Tiriti o Waitangi or its principles. The law would also set up a Regulatory Standards Board, which would respond to concerns raised around the consistency of regulation. Appointed by the Regulation Minister (currently ACT Party Leader David Seymour), the board would be able to make non-binding recommendations, much like the Waitangi Tribunal. The bill took its foundations from a report written by Dr Bryce Wilkinson in the early 2000s. The report was commissioned by the Business Roundtable (now merged into the New Zealand Initiative), a public policy think tank and business membership organisation. Wilkinson was tasked with examining the quality of government regulation in New Zealand. Inspired by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of the early 1990s, a transparency mechanism designed to prevent another public debt blowout, he drafted an initial "Regulatory Responsibility Bill". He describes his original concept as a way to prevent regulatory abuses by focusing on making "government laws and regulations more principled and more respectful of personal autonomy and property." Dr Bryce Wilkinson is a Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative. Photo: Supplied Various different versions of the bill have been introduced to Parliament on three separate occasions, each time failing to become law. First, by the ACT Party under Rodney Hide's leadership in 2006, then again in 2011, and then by Seymour in 2021. The RSB was once again resurrected in 2023, this time as part of the coalition agreement signed between National and ACT, which included a pledge to improve the quality of regulation and pass a Regulatory Standards Act "as soon as practicable." The bill defines what it sees as good law-making, but some legal experts warn that this definition reflects only a single political viewpoint. Everyone is in favour of good lawmaking, suggests Andrew Geddis, Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago. "The question is, how do you define what a good law is, and what principles should good law follow?" Geddis argues it would elevate one party's political ideology, namely ACT's libertarian views, into a framework future governments would have to follow. "By choosing a few principles and saying these are the really important principles that matter. These are the ones that must be complied with. It kind of bakes into our law making system an idea that this is what the ideal society ought to look like" he says. Dr Carwyn Jones, Kaihautū Te Whare Whakatupu Mātauranga at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, says the bill is a constitutional overreach which focuses on property rights and wealth. "Those come at the expense of things like environmental protection, protection of human rights that are protected under the Bill of Rights Act, or rights under te Tiriti." Dr Carwyn Jones gave evidence at the urgent inquiry by the Waitangi Tribunal into the RSB. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Of the more than 10 principles which will define good lawmaking, there is no reference to considering the Treaty or its principles. Geddis, an expert in constitutional law, says this puts the Bill at odds with the Treaty, and the principles enshrined in the RSB would constrain the Treaty's impact. "The principles it contains, and the way those principles constrain lawmaking, means that lawmaking in New Zealand can't really respond to the needs or the demands of te Tiriti. It puts a constraint on how our system of government can operate in a way that is treaty compliant, and that in itself, undermines or undercuts what effect the treaty can have." Another key sticking point in the bill is the principle, "every person is equal before the law". That almost identical phrase was featured in the now dead Treaty Principles Bill, also backed by ACT. Whilst seemingly neutral, lawyer and Special Counsel at Tāmaki Legal, Tania Waikato fears the clause could be used to dismantle existing laws designed to address historic inequities. "Every single piece of legislation where it treats Māori differently, they can assess it against that principle and say that doesn't comply. And if that doesn't comply, they then have the ability to review it. It can be repealed." For this reason, Waikato says it is the most dangerous piece of legislation she has seen in the 20 years she has been a lawyer, dubbing it "Treaty Principles Bill 2.0". "It can take away every single right that Māori have under te Tiriti that's in legislation already, and it can stop any new rights being recognised in any incoming laws." It's estimated over 40,000 people marched on Parliament to protest the Treaty Principles Bill in 2024. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Waikato, who also acts as the legal representative for Te Pāti Māori and activist group Toitū te Tiriti, says the legislation will impact the revitalisation of te reo Māori. "If you've got a piece of legislation for te reo Maori that gives funding support, for example, to te reo Māori, that's not treating everyone the same, that's treating Maori differently." Carwyn Jones suggests the RSB will create a "filter" or "control gate" for all existing and new legislation, providing a mechanism to diminish the legal standing of te Tiriti from New Zealand law. "The Treaty Principles Bill was about removing the legal impact and meaning, and effect of te Tiriti from our law... What it will do is provide an opportunity to remove te Tiriti from our law with exactly the same effect, I think, as the Treaty Principles Bill would have." Jones also sees the creation of a Regulatory Standards Board as a kind of 'anti-Waitangi Tribunal'. "The [Waitangi] Tribunal is about protecting those rights under te Tiriti and giving effect to treaty principles, finding practical ways of giving effect to those. The regulatory standards board will be about removing those rights under te Tiriti, finding ways of ensuring that te Tiriti does not have any legal effect or meaning in our law." Wilkinson says he's spent hours trying to understand treaty concerns, but can't see what the problem is. "At the moment I'm just seeing an assertion that somehow these principles are in conflict with the treaty, but I can't see how they would be." He describes the bill as a minor transparency measure, which won't restrict parliament in its lawmaking, more than it will encourage pause for thought. "The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act is a much more serious sort of constitutional beast. It doesn't have a treaty clause in it either. So why isn't the eye being directed at the Bill of Rights Act rather than this little transparency measure." Responding to concerns the bill is "dangerous", Wilkinson says he doesn't understand that point of view either. "There's so much public misunderstanding and distrust of this." "Māori are seeing it [the bill] as anti-Māori but people are assuming motives which aren't there, and then they're getting really uptight about it, because they think they're going to be screwed, and that this is about screwing them." In a written statement, Seymour said the RSB will help Aotearoa get its "mojo back". "It requires politicians and officials to ask and answer certain questions before they place restrictions on citizens' freedoms. What problem are we trying to solve? What are the costs and benefits? Who pays the costs and gets the benefits? What restrictions are being placed on the use and exchange of private property? Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER He said it is about transparent lawmaking and that all New Zealanders benefit. "This bill turns 'because we said so' into 'because here's the evidence.' So if a politician wants to tax you, take your property, or restrict your livelihood, they should be able to show you their work." Seymour said misinformation about the bill was being spread by social media campaigns. "Clearly some groups see this sort of fearmongering and manufactured outrage as a good way of fundraising. Thankfully, I think most Kiwis can see right through this." Critics also argue that the RSB process itself hasn't followed good lawmaking practices, including consultation with Māori. Andrew Geddis says that lack of consultation amounts to a breach of treaty principles. "A principle of te Tiriti is that when a new law is being made by the government that affects Māori, Māori should be consulted and have their views taken into account. That just hasn't really happened at all with regards [to this] legislation… Māori just haven't been talked to about it." The Ministry for Regulation did seek public input on a discussion document about the bill in January, which garnered about 23,000 responses, 88 percent of which opposed the bill. But Jones agrees there was no meaningful consultation with Māori. "Māori who submitted were opposed to the bill, and the particular concerns they raised were around its impact on te Tiriti, and yet the government still didn't identify that there were any particular issues that they ought to be consulting with Māori about." Tania Waikato says it gives a disproportionate amount of power to the ACT Party, allowing them to create "long-lasting intergenerational change without the consent of the people." "Eight percent of the vote does not entitle you to change our constitution, and they were devious and deceptive in terms of how they described this bill and how they failed to consult on this bill." But in an interview on RNZ's 30 with Guyon Espiner , Seymour insisted Māori voices were heard through public consultation. "We had 144 iwi-based groups who submitted … if that's not enough, then I don't know what is," Seymour said. After an urgent inquiry was launched, the Waitangi Tribunal found that if the RSB was enacted without meaningful consultation with Māori, it would "constitute a breach of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi". It called for an immediate halt to the bill's advancement to allow more engagement with Māori. Jones also points out that the Bill isn't even something the Ministry for Regulation thinks will encourage good lawmaking. "The Ministry of Regulation, David Seymour's own ministry, their advice to the government was that not only is this not needed, but this is not a very effective way to encourage good law making, and neither is it a very efficient way of doing it," he says. The RSB is currently open for public submissions with the select committee due to report back on 22 November, although Seymour has asked that it be moved up to 23 September. If the bill passes, it would likely come into effect on 1 January 2026.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labor reveals plan to deliver 1.2million new homes
Breaking ground on delivering 1.2million homes starts by untangling the maze of bureaucratic approvals, the federal government says. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil has signalled a second-term Labor administration will move quickly to boost construction. 'We've just been elected with a really clear mandate to improve our housing system in this country,' she told reporters on Saturday. 'We've got big reforms to implement, and not a day to waste in getting on with them.' The minister vowed to simplify local, state and federal planning regulations by leading a council of planning ministers. 'If we are going to address the housing needs of Australians, it is going to require the three levels of government to work together in new ways,' she said. She will work with the building sector to implement innovative technologies to move past time consuming and costly methods of construction. Her comments come after an interview with ABC on Friday where she said 'builders face a ridiculous thicket of red tape that is preventing them building the homes we need.' Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said the cost of building a home had skyrocketed by 40 per cent over the past five years while construction times had ballooned by 80 per cent over the past decade. 'It is critical that we remove the red tape that is hampering our capacity to build homes,' she said. Ms Wawn was hopeful the ambitious goal of 1.2million homes coming onto the market would be achieved, but said the group's projections showed there could be a slight drop-off. She argued that along with the focus on reducing red tape, there was an urgent need to apprenticeships and fast-tracking migration for skilled people. 'For the first time, the federal government is leaning in and trying to ensure that there is a focused attention on housing,' she said. But opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg said the government's plans were a 'joke' and described Labor as 'red tape champions.' 'Labor's signature housing policy, the Housing Australia Future Fund has built zero new homes in three years,' Senator Bragg said. 'Approvals are way down under their watch and their 1.2million new home target is a dead duck.' The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Australia on Tuesday to boost housing supply and address falling affordability. The OECD said easing zoning restrictions would strengthen competition and productivity, as well as raise housing investment to 'reverse the long-standing decline in housing affordability'.
The Independent
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
DOGE promised to make government more efficient. Workers say they are wasting more time than ever
Staff across federal agencies said that red tape implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency is wasting more time than ever. Workers at 19 agencies revealed how sweeping changes brought in by DOGE — Elon Musk 's team that pledged to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse — have instead resulted in delays for the most basic transactions and projects put on hold for months, The Washington Post reports. 'People are so demoralized, anxious and sleep deprived,' a NASA employee told the outlet. 'Nobody is working at top efficiency.' Employees at the State Department, Social Security Administration, National Institutes of Health and the Federal Aviation Administration were among those feeling the strain as DOGE laid off staff and brought in new hurdles, impacting financial and policy protocols. One staffer at the State Department told The Post that hiring an international vendor for an event required multiple layers of additional sign off because of the administration's requirement to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion from government. The vendor refused to sign paperwork confirming that it did not promote DEI, resulting in the staffer having to go through several rounds of sign-off to secure the contract. The process would have typically taken a day but instead took an entire week, according to the outlet. In response, the State Department told The Post that it would 'never apologize for putting processes in place to ensure taxpayer dollars are used correctly.' While many federal workers told the newspaper they supported scrutiny of how the government spends taxpayer money, the reality was running 'counter to the goal of efficiency.' An employee at the Federal Aviation Authority said that the new process for payment systems means that staff must now write statements justifying all expenditures, from bigger expenses to ordering pens and pencils. It has slowed down the process of getting windows cleaned at air traffic control towers, the employee said. Purchase orders that would take 15 to 20 minutes now take up to 2 hours. 'These are things that people don't think about, but clean windows are crucial for controllers,' the employee told the outlet. Meanwhile at some parts of the National Institutes of Health, one staffer revealed that grants must be fed through an AI tool to detect references to 'DEI, transgender, China or vaccine hesitancy.' Staff must also check that grant recipients are not on the list of institutions that President Donald Trump has targeted, including Harvard, Changes at the Social Security Administration pushed through by DOGE are also causing 'chaos' after the team reassigned central-office workers to take lower-level positions, according to The Post. In February, the agency outlined plans to cut 7,000 jobs. Staff are 'overburdened' as they have reportedly been taken off normal duties in order to train new staffers. 'You now have half the staff with very little knowledge of how to do the work,' a relocated staffer told the outlet. 'And the other half of staff overwhelmed with work and unable to really train or mentor these new folks.' The agency said that the reassignment of approximately 2,000 staff 'has not caused disruptions.' A statement said the reassignment of the staffers would 'further accelerate the progress the agency is making.' Responding to the claims made in The Post 's reporting, White House spokesman Harrison Fields said that 'President Trump is curbing government waste and reforming a system that has long burdened American taxpayers' through DOGE. 'Anyone resistant to these critical reforms has had ample opportunity to step aside, but the work of DOGE will press forward unobstructed,' he added.
CTV News
09-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Cutting the red tape
Taking Stock The rise of red tape is a huge concern for Canadian business. It feels like an easy fix for a government hoping to help the economy. Amanda Lang speaks with Krystle Wittevrongel, Director of Research at HTE Montreal Economic Institute.
