Patch 2024.05

May 2024 proposals

This month’s proposals would change taxes, rental rules, KiwiSaver protections, non-compete clauses, customer data, immigration, children’s care, Māori land, gift cards and Māori ward polls.

• Proposal for tax relief and family support — It would change income-tax thresholds and add support through tax credits for workers, families, and early childhood education.
• Proposal to change rental rules — It would bring back 90-day no-reason terminations, change notice periods, and set new rules for pets in rental homes.
• Proposal to protect KiwiSaver members — It would stop employers treating workers differently because they belong to KiwiSaver or another complying superannuation fund.
• Proposal to limit non-compete clauses — It would limit non-compete restraints for workers earning under three times minimum wage, and cap other restraints at six months.
• Proposal to give customers data control — It would give customers more control over sharing data with approved businesses, making it easier to switch providers and support new services.
• Proposal to change immigration and work rules — It would make regulatory changes in immigration and workforce laws.
• Proposal to change children’s care rules — It would remove a current rule, changing how Oranga Tamariki considers culture and family connections when arranging children’s care.
• Proposal to protect Māori land — It would stop Ministers and councils taking Māori freehold or customary land for public works without the owners’ consent.
• Proposal to extend gift card expiry — It would require most gift cards to stay valid for at least three years after sale.
• Proposal to restore Māori ward polls — It would restore polls on Māori wards, require some 2025 polls, and allow more time for postal voting papers.
• Proposal to reshape council water planning — It would let councils plan and set up future arrangements for delivering financially sustainable water services.
• Proposal to extend marine farm permits — It would extend existing marine farm consents by 20 years, but not beyond 2050.
• Proposal to end forestry registration rules — It would end registration and related requirements for log traders and forestry advisers, including associated fees and levies.
• Proposal to increase the Crown’s fines share — It would increase the Crown’s share of collected fines from 10% to 14%.
• Proposal to broaden waste levy spending — It would allow waste levy money to fund environmental work, emergencies, and government waste-management duties.
• Proposal to change clean-car targets — It would change how future clean-vehicle emissions targets are set.
• Proposal to clarify ACC instalment interest — It would clearly allow ACC to charge interest on instalment-paid levies and set rules for waiving some charges.
• Proposal to change prison rules — It would let Corrections monitor prisoner communications, change prison discipline, regulate non-lethal weapons, and support Māori rehabilitation.
• Proposal to simplify business rules — It would make targeted changes to MBIE laws to reduce compliance burdens and fix gaps, duplication, errors, and outdated rules.
• Proposal to change freshwater rules — It would change freshwater, biodiversity, stock-exclusion, mining, and intensive-winter-grazing rules, and speed up national environmental rule changes.
• Proposal to change Māori fisheries rules — It would change rules relating to Māori fisheries.
• Proposal to change mass-arrival rules — It would change immigration rules for mass arrivals.
• Proposal to change education regulation — It would change rules for regulating education.
• Proposal to authorise planned government spending — It would authorise planned government spending for the year ending 30 June 2025.
• Proposal to approve extra government spending — It would authorise and adjust government spending for the year ending 30 June 2024.
• Proposal to settle Whakatōhea claims — It would put the Crown’s settlement agreement with Whakatōhea into law, including cultural, economic, environmental, tax, and governance arrangements.
• Proposal to replace emergency law dropped — This proposal was dropped; it would have replaced the main emergency-management law and changed how emergencies were managed.