Just a lot of political theatre.
Speaking at Parliament, Seymour described trying to find practical feedback on the bill as “like finding a needle in a haystack.”
“This is a piece of legislation that will make it much, much harder for politicians to just lazily put red tape on New Zealanders,” he said. “It will make it much, much easier for New Zealanders to challenge bad laws.”
Seymour said the bill doesn’t create new powers, but consolidates existing lawmaking expectations into a single “black-letter law so New Zealanders have some rights.”
He dismissed claims the bill would trigger mass compensation claims, saying this had been “totally debunked” by the bill’s own language, which makes clear no new legal rights are created.
Asked about criticism that the Treaty of Waitangi is excluded, Seymour said the bill is about regulatory discipline for all New Zealanders, not identity politics.
“If you can explain why putting in a principle of the Treaty would enhance that, I’d be interested to hear it,” he said. “All these people sort of mindlessly say ‘you must have the Treaty of Waitangi because it’s our founding document’… but they’re not really able to give a practical example of why making the Treaty a principle in this particular law would change the amount of red tape New Zealanders face.”
Seymour rejected former PM Sir Geoffrey Palmer’s characterisation of the bill as “bizarre,” saying: “If he thinks that it’s too hard for the government to keep tabs on all the rules it’s making, he should be worried about all the poor buggers out there that have to follow the government’s rules.”
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“This is a piece of legislation that will make it much, much harder for politicians to just lazily put red tape on New Zealanders,” he said. “It will make it much, much easier for New Zealanders to challenge bad laws.”
Seymour said the bill doesn’t create new powers, but consolidates existing lawmaking expectations into a single “black-letter law so New Zealanders have some rights.”
He dismissed claims the bill would trigger mass compensation claims, saying this had been “totally debunked” by the bill’s own language, which makes clear no new legal rights are created.
Asked about criticism that the Treaty of Waitangi is excluded, Seymour said the bill is about regulatory discipline for all New Zealanders, not identity politics.
“If you can explain why putting in a principle of the Treaty would enhance that, I’d be interested to hear it,” he said. “All these people sort of mindlessly say ‘you must have the Treaty of Waitangi because it’s our founding document’… but they’re not really able to give a practical example of why making the Treaty a principle in this particular law would change the amount of red tape New Zealanders face.”
Seymour rejected former PM Sir Geoffrey Palmer’s characterisation of the bill as “bizarre,” saying: “If he thinks that it’s too hard for the government to keep tabs on all the rules it’s making, he should be worried about all the poor buggers out there that have to follow the government’s rules.”
Click to view
The Centrist is a new online news platform that strives to provide a balance to the public debate - where this article was sourced.
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