The Regulatory Standards Bill: A Dangerous Step Back for Māori and Minority Rights

I am late to the game on this Bill, and I acknowledge the tireless efforts of people like Tania Waikato who have been fighting back against it. Their leadership and advocacy have been critical in bringing these issues to light. This article is my contribution to that conversation, because the implications of this legislation are too significant to ignore.

The Government’s proposed Regulatory Standards Bill (155-1) is being marketed as a tool for better law-making and accountability. But behind its technical language lies a profound shift in New Zealand’s legal and social fabric. This Bill threatens to erode protections for Māori, weaken equity measures, and entrench economic privilege over social justice.

The Bill introduces a set of so-called principles of responsible regulation, including personal liberty, property rights, and mandatory cost-benefit analysis for new laws. It also creates a Regulatory Standards Board to review legislation for compliance with these principles. On the surface, this sounds reasonable. In reality, it is anything but.

The most glaring omission is Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Bill makes no reference to the Treaty. This is not an oversight. It is a deliberate choice that signals a retreat from the Crown’s obligations to Māori. For decades, Treaty principles have guided legislation to ensure Māori voices and rights are respected. Stripping this away risks reducing Māori to stakeholders rather than partners, undermining the very foundation of our constitutional relationship.

The Bill also enshrines the principle that every person is equal before the law. At first glance, this sounds fair. In practice, it ignores the structural disadvantages faced by Māori and other minority groups. Equity-based policies designed to level the playing field could be challenged as inconsistent with these new principles. Targeted health programmes for Māori could be at risk. Affirmative measures in education or employment might become harder to justify. Social protections could be weakened in the name of efficiency.

Whose interests does this Bill really protect? By prioritising property rights and economic efficiency, it tilts the scales towards those who already hold wealth and power. Communities that rely on strong public regulation, whether for housing, workplace safety, or environmental protection, stand to lose. Critics warn this could lead to light-handed regulation, echoing past disasters such as Pike River and the leaky homes crisis.

For Māori and other minority groups, the stakes could not be higher. The omission of Treaty obligations erodes hard-won rights. The emphasis on formal equality threatens to dismantle programmes that address systemic disadvantage. And the ideological bias of the Bill risks silencing minority voices in favour of a narrow vision of law that values markets over mana, property over people, and uniformity over justice.

This Bill is not a neutral tool for better governance. It is an ideological project that hardwires inequality into our legal system. If we allow it to pass unchallenged, we risk locking in a future where fairness is sacrificed for efficiency and where the voices of the vulnerable are drowned out by the demands of the powerful.

Now is the time to speak up. The Regulatory Standards Bill is not just a technical reform. It is a political choice. And it is the wrong one for Aotearoa.