Act promises to get rid of Government red tape

ACT has announced the first four sectors that will undergo a red tape review by a new Minister and Ministry of Regulation: early childhood education, health workforce, primary industries and financial services.

“Most of New Zealand's problems can be traced to poor productivity and poor productivity can be traced to poor regulation” leader David Seymour said.

“In nearly every sector, we hear complaints that red tape increases compliance costs and creates missed opportunities by stopping productive activity. Our No. 8 wire culture is gradually eroding as people find it more attractive to do less.

“ACT has already proposed a new Minister and Ministry of Regulation to control the impacts of regulation like the Minister of Finance controls the supply of money taxed from New Zealanders.

“The Minister and Ministry would ensure new and existing regulations meet tough new standards and would put red tape on the chopping block. Today, we’re announcing the first four sectors that will undergo a red tape review.

“Early childhood education faces a host of regulations aimed at protecting the safety and wellbeing of children and improving the quality of education.

“However, not all regulations are made equally, and over-regulation is hurting the sector. We need to get the regulations right to ensure ECE is accessible and affordable for all New Zealanders.

“New Zealand’s health system is under serious pressure due to a lack of workforce. Lifting constraints on the supply of workers and the activities they can undertake can ensure more Kiwis will have access to timely care.

“For example, ACT has heard from the aged care sector that international nurses struggle to meet the language requirements in the competence assessment programme, despite them possessing better written and oral language communication than most Kiwis.

“The Ministry would weigh up whether regulations like this were actually having a positive impact, and if not it would scrap them.

“Farmers face a significant regulatory burden, often for no practical benefit. Yesterday, Dairy NZ published a survey that showed 99 per cent of dairy farmers have an issue with government regulation.

“The financial services sector is also swamped in red tape. Many regulations are designed to achieve the same thing, but cumulatively add up to a huge burden. For example, financial services have to submit multiple regular reports to different agencies, covering similar ground, whether it’s the Reserve Bank, Financial Markets Authority, Commerce Commission and trustees.”