Hon Christopher Finlayson
Attorney-General
20 June 2017
Media Statement
Legislation Bill introduced
A bill to improve public access to the law has been introduced to Parliament, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson
announced today.
“This Government is committed to producing an accessible, clear and up-to-date statute book,” Mr Finlayson said. “The
Legislation Bill will make it easier to find and access secondary legislation by requiring it to be published on the New
Zealand Legislation website alongside Acts of Parliament.”
Currently over 100 agencies are empowered to make secondary legislation on a wide range of matters such as food
standards and financial reporting standards. There is no single source for these legislative instruments, many of which
are published on agency websites or in gazettes notices.
If enacted, the Legislation Bill will extend the scope of the New Zealand Legislation website to include secondary
legislation which will result in a single, official, public source for New Zealand legislation (with the exception of
legislation made by local authorities which is not included in the Bill).
“Implementation of the Legislation Bill will provide greater certainty for the public about their rights and
obligations, reduce compliance costs and enhance Parliamentary scrutiny of secondary legislation,” Mr Finlayson said.
The Legislation Bill also improves the New Zealand’s legislative framework by:
enacting legislative disclosure requirements which require agencies to disclose information about the development and
key features of government-initiated legislation at the time of introduction;
absorbing the Interpretation Act 1999, with some technical improvements, so that all laws about the making and
application of legislation are contained in one piece of legislation; and
re-enacting, with minor updates, the Legislation Act 2012.
ends