On 15 May, the New Zealand Government proposed amendments to 19 laws. The amendments diminish the state’s responsibilities under the Treaty of Waitangi, impacting education, conservation, local government and natural resource management.  Under the Treaty, the state is obligated to protect Maori rights and interests. Critics, including legal scholars, Maori representatives, and the governmental Waitangi Tribunal say the reforms aim to reduce Maori participation in decision-making and alter the constitutional balance underpinning government–Maori relations. In its first report on the plans, the Waitangi Tribunal recommended the government halt draft legislation relating to education entirely. Supporters argue the changes will increase legal clarity and democratic accountability. 

Sources: Radio New Zealand (1), Radio New Zealand (2), Lowy Institute

The New Zealand government announced plans to abolish the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA), the independent body responsible for adjudicating complaints about broadcast content and enforcing broadcasting standards. The decision was made in response to the BSA’s decision to investigate a complaint about racist comments made on a podcast on the online media outlet The Platform. The BSA ruled that the Platform was operating as a ‘broadcaster’ according to New Zealand law and was therefore subject to its jurisdiction, an interpretation The Platform and the government rejected. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said the non-governmental Media Council will now be the primary regulator, but it is a voluntary membership body without enforcement powers (in existence since 1972). Critics of the decision argue that removing the BSA risks weakening protections against harmful, discriminatory and racist content and reduces avenues for public complaints. Supporters contend that the attempt to regulate online content was bureaucratic overreach.

Sources: Radio New Zealand (1), Radio New Zealand (2), Pacific Media Network

New Zealand’s parliament passed the Electoral Amendment Act on 16 December, removing the possibility for same-day voter registration and voting from prison, as well as increasing the maximum allowed anonymous political donation from NZD 5,000 to NZD 6,000. Voters must now register at least 13 days before election day. The Act also removes a requirement that the Electoral Commission contact voters only by post, bans the free distribution of food and provision of entertainment within 100 meters of a voting place, and allows for the automatic adjustment of limits on campaign spending for inflation. The government justified the restrictions on registration as necessary to speed up the vote-counting process. Civil servants at the Ministry of Justice did not support the removal of same-day voting. New Zealand’s Attorney-General agreed, and added that the ban on prisoner voting might violate the country’s Bill of Rights. The act received Royal Assent and came into force on 20 December.

Sources: Radio New Zealand, New Zealand Legislation

The Regulatory Standards Act was passed in parliament on 13 November and received royal assent on 18 November. The Act sets out a number of principles which lawmakers and civil servants will have to respect. Deviations from the principles will have to be publicly explained. The opposition, constitutional law scholars, civil society and the general public have reacted negatively to the Act, criticizing the formulation of principles – which include restrictions on taxation, taking of property, and a focus on individual liberties over common welfare - as vague, in conflict with existing constitutional provisions, or overly ideological. The principles are not enforceable in court but are expected to impact governance in the future should the opposition fail in its promise to repeal the Act if elected. Ninety-eight per cent of public comments on the bill were negative, with experts referring to it as ‘a dogmatic project designed to politically skew the process of lawmaking’ and ‘demonstrably antithetical to many core values underpinning modern welfare states.’ Specifically, its critics say adherence to the Act’s principles could undermine public health, social equality and environmental protections through a narrow conception of individual rights and private property.

Sources: Radio New Zealand, Radio New Zealand, Public Health Communication Centre, New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office

More than 100,000 public employees, including teachers, doctors and nurses went on a one-day strike on 23 October, protesting low salaries, poor working conditions and underinvestment in public services. The strike was the largest since New Zealand’s only general strike in 1979, which included nearly 300,000 workers, and caps a year of growing labour activism in the country. While the country’s workforce was almost entirely unionized during the 1979 general strike, unionization is below 20 per cent today. Sectoral unions cited additional grounds for the strike, ranging from concerns over curriculum and exam procedures for teachers’ unions to short-staffing and a lack of support for training for doctors’ unions. Government representatives called the strike ’politically motivated’ and criticized the effect it had on schools’ and hospitals’ operations, which labour leaders and the political opposition rejected.

Sources: Reuters, Labor Notes, Radio New Zealand