News / Blog content Service

Holiday Act reform (Intro Pending) – Outlines the Government’s proposed employment leave legislation, which is expected to be introduced in early 2026, and would repeal and replace the Holidays Act 2003.

Legislation to refocus councils (In Progress)– An overview of the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill aimed at refocusing councils on their core services and help reduce the pressure on rates.

Proposed ban on merchant surcharges (In Progress) – Looks at the Retail Payment System (Ban on Merchant Surcharges) Amendment Bill, which would ban surcharges for all in-store EFTPOS, Visa and Mastercard payments.

Commerce Commission’s refreshed priorities – Summarises the Commissions refreshed priorities, as released in late August, indicating the areas it will be focusing efforts for the 2025/26 period.

Public Works (Critical Infrastructure) Amendment Bill (In Progress) – outlines the changes passed in August to speed up the process to acquire land for critical infrastructure projects – which includes a streamlined objection process and incentive payments.

Employment Relations Amendment Bill (In Progress) – Proposed changes to the ERA are outlined, including: clarity for contracting parties, rebalancing personal grievance settings, establishing a threshold for unjustified dismissal, and removal of 30-day rule.

Proposed restrictions on farm to exotic ETS forestry conversions (Enacted) – provides an overview of legislation aimed at protecting our most productive farmland for food production, by restricting its conversion to exotic forest registered in the New Zealand emissions trading scheme.

Debanking Bill (Enacted) – reviews a recent Members’ Bill, which aims to prevent registered banks from refusing to provide services to individuals or businesses for non-commercial reasons, such as for environmental, social or governance reasons.

Foodstuff’s FRT trial compliant with Privacy Act – looks at findings from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s inquiry into Foodstuff North Island’s 2024 trial of facial recognition technology as a deterrent to retail crime and violence towards staff and customers. The article outlines key aspects of the model employed that ensured it complied with the Privacy Act, as well as improvements needed before being fully rolled out.

Termination of employment by agreement (In Progress) – looks at legislation that, if enacted, would enable an employer to negotiate with an employee the termination of their employment without risking triggering a personal grievance.

Reducing barriers to new medicines (Enacted) – covers proposed amendments to the Medicines Act that would speed up access to medicines not previously available in New Zealand.

Right to repair legislation passes first reading (Terminated at SC) – reviews the Members Bill that would amend the Consumers Guarantees Act to require greater commitment from manufacturers to provide repair solutions.

The path to reforming the RMA – Gives a brief on how the RMA changes have progressed up to Phase three, where the it will be replaced by two new acts.

Labour Inspectorate’s nationwide clampdown – provides an overview of operations underway and planned targeting non-compliant employment practices, and the Inspectorate’s investigation and enforcement powers.

Offshore renewable energy regime (In Progress) – looks into proposed legislation aimed at giving investors more confidence to invest in offshore renewable energy projects.

Gene technology laws to be modernised (In Progress) – outlines legislation that would replace parts of the HSNO Act that regulate GMOs, with a more enabling regulatory system.

Countering foreign interference (Enacted) – presents background and an outline of the Bill that would strengthen our criminal-justice response to foreign interference in New Zealand.

Legislation to make stalking a criminal offence (Enacted) – outlines proposed changes to the Crimes Act and other related Acts, that would provide better protection against stalking.