Ministry for Regulation news – August 2025

Making regulation work better for everyone

A note from Gráinne Moss
Chief Executive

Kia ora

There’s a lot happening across the Ministry right now, and this edition of our newsletter is packed with updates on the work we’re doing to make regulation work better for everyone. With so much going on, I wanted to take a moment to share a bit about how we approach that work – what drives us, how we collaborate, and why it matters.

The Ministry for Regulation was set up with a clear purpose: to lead system-wide improvement in how regulation works for New Zealand. As a central agency, our Cabinet mandated responsibility is to make sure the regulatory system as a whole achieves better outcomes, reduces impact on regulated parties, and maintains public trust and confidence.

Our role is to take a whole-of-system view – spotting duplication, identifying where regulation is ineffective or inefficient, and working with others to develop solutions. Collaboration is central to this. We can only achieve lasting improvement by working alongside agencies, businesses, community groups, and everyday people. Shared goals matter, because the challenges we face – whether in housing, infrastructure, health or the environment – are complex and interconnected. 

We take this forward in different ways. The Red Tape Tipline gives people a direct way to flag rules that cause real-world issues. Alongside this, our sector reviews help us understand how regulation is working across entire systems. We engage closely with other agencies, regulators, and regulated entities to identify opportunities for change. By working together from the outset, we help ensure that our recommendations are practical and lead to meaningful improvements. Together, these perspectives help us target reform where it will make the most difference.

You’ll see this approach reflected in our work below – from practical fixes sparked by the Tipline through to system-wide reviews. Each piece of work connects back to our purpose: making regulation work better for everyone.

Ngā mihi
Gráinne

New quick guides for regulators

We are pleased to share our final four Quick Guides in the Regulatory Practice Essentials series: 

• Regulatory approaches, models and tools
• Evidence-informed regulatory practice
• The law and judiciary
• Investigations and evidence.

These build on the six guides released in 2024 and complete our series of 10 Quick Guides. Together, they offer practical learning on core regulatory topics to support regulatory practitioners across Aotearoa. They aim to build shared understanding, reduce duplication in resource development, and strengthen everyday regulatory practice. 

We are incredibly grateful to everyone in the sector who had input developing the guides and the online modules which will be launched with RegRoom in the coming weeks. This complete set of resources reflect a strong sector-wide commitment to building core regulatory capability – thank you.

Download Quick Guides

A look at our Regulatory Review Framework

We are pleased to share an overview of our Regulatory Review Framework which shows how we choose and carry out our reviews. This process uses evidence and analysis to make sure regulation helps people and businesses by protecting and enabling, rather than getting in the way.

The overview includes our Regulatory Quality Assessment Tool that we use to check whether rules are clear, fair, and fit for purpose — helping us see if regulation is working as intended, or causing unnecessary costs and confusion.

We will continue to update the framework with more useful guides and tools to help regulators in their own regulatory analysis work.  

Regulatory Review Framework

Assessment Tool

What New Zealanders are saying about red tape: Q4 insights now available

Since launching the Red Tape Tipline, we’ve heard from over 1,000 people who’ve come across regulations that aren't working for them.

We’ve released our latest quarterly reporting for April–June 2025, providing a snapshot of the kinds of regulatory issues New Zealanders are raising. In total, we received 130 tips in the quarter, covering themes like the Resource Management Act, health and safety, building consent, swimming pools, building warrant of fitness and more.

This reporting gives us insight into the areas of regulation that may be causing friction and helps us focus our attention where it’s needed most. Every tip is triaged by our Regulatory Response Team and assessed to understand whether it reflects a wider issue or points to a potential opportunity to improve the system.

One tip received this quarter led to recent changes to simplify building consent rules for small detached buildings – like garden sheds and sleepouts. It’s just one example of how insights from the public are helping us clear unnecessary red tape.

Another tip helped kickstart long-overdue updates to scaffolding regulations, which hadn’t kept pace with modern industry practice. The changes now underway will help reduce costs and delays for the construction sector, while keeping worksites safe and certification requirements fit for purpose.

Read the Report

Spotlight on reviews

Significant change from Early Childhood Education Regulatory Review

The Government has announced a significant change to strengthen the ECE sector’s regulatory system. The Education Review Office (ERO) will now take on the sector’s primary regulatory role, led by a new statutory Director of Regulation.

This change was identified and enabled through the Ministry for Regulation’s ECE review, which highlighted opportunities to simplify the regulatory environment and strengthen accountability. By consolidating regulatory functions and introducing a dedicated Director of Regulation, the ECE sector will benefit from:

• Clearer regulatory leadership and accountability
• More consistent engagement on licensing and compliance
• A stronger focus on good regulatory practice

The reform is designed to ensure that regulation in ECE is effective, proportionate, and better able to support positive outcomes for children, whānau, and providers.

What it says on the label

We have announced our fifth sector review, focused on product labelling — the information provided on products or packaging, such as ingredients, expiry dates, usage instructions, and batch numbers.

With over 30 different codes, standards, and regulations to keep up with, product labelling is more complex than it seems – businesses must navigate a fragmented system that adds cost and confusion.

The review will explore how we can:

• reduce compliance costs for Kiwi businesses
• encourage innovation (like digital labelling and QR codes)
• align better with global trading partners.

We are working with other agencies, businesses, and groups to shape the terms of reference for the review.

Find out more

Connecting with future public service talent

Over the past few weeks, our team hit the road to visit universities across the motu — and it was a huge success! From the University of Canterbury to Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Auckland and AUT, our team met hundreds of students keen to learn more about the Ministry for Regulation and our work.

We were excited by the level of interest from students, especially in our inaugural Graduate Programme, which offers four entry-level positions across digital, economics, ministerial services, and our regulatory reviews. We also promoted the Analytics and Research in Government Internship Programme, a 12-week paid summer placement working on real-world projects in government.

With applications for our graduate roles now closed, our team is busy reviewing applications and getting ready to undertake interviews — and we’re excited to welcome four new graduates to the Ministry early next year.

To find out more about careers at the Ministry and what it’s like to work with us check out our careers page.

Webinar series

The art of good regulation: Why strong institutions and good systems matter

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) and the Ministry for Regulation recently hosted the second webinar in our series The Art of Good Regulation: Why Strong Institutions and Good Systems Matter.

Gwen Rashbrooke from the Ministry for Regulation was joined by economists Chris Nixon and Phillipa Miller Moore from NZIER to explore the foundations of effective regulatory systems and why strong institutions are essential for good regulation.

Missed the session? Watch the recordingopen_in_new

And stay tuned – details of the third webinar in the series are coming soon.