Patch 2026.07

July 2026 proposals

Proposed bills would change leave, expand police and trespass powers, require reporting child harm, broaden firefighters’ injury cover, and require life jackets for children.

• Proposal to replace leave rules — It would replace Holidays Act rules, changing how annual, sick, bereavement, family violence, and public holiday leave would be earned and paid.
• Proposal to expand police powers — It would change Police powers to record images and sounds, collect information, and close a wider range of roads temporarily.
• Proposal to expand trespass powers — Retailers, food service providers and licensed premises would have longer and broader powers to trespass people from their locations.
• Proposal to require reporting child harm — People who know, or should know, that a child was harmed would have to tell police, unless they had a reasonable excuse.
• Proposal to broaden firefighters’ ACC cover — Volunteer and paid firefighters would have wider cover for gradual mental harm and other work-related illnesses and injuries.
• Proposal to require children’s life jackets — Children under 15 would have to wear life jackets on recreational boats up to 6 metres, with some exemptions.
• Proposal to change boundary reviews — The proposal would change how census information triggers reviews of parliamentary electoral boundaries.
• Proposal for an annual census — The census would be carried out annually, mainly using information already held by government agencies instead of a survey every five years.
• Proposal to change crime law — The proposal would change New Zealand’s criminal law, but its specific changes are not stated.
• Proposal to reshape Commerce Commission — The Commerce Commission would get a new board, clearer duties and changes to its commissioner roles.
• Proposal about firearms law — The proposal would concern firearms law, but its specific changes are not stated.
• Proposal to rate office energy use — Office buildings would need to meet mandatory energy performance rating requirements.
• Proposal on infrastructure funding and financing — It concerns how infrastructure would be funded and financed.
• Proposal to replace resource-management rules — It would create new systems for planning land use and regulating development, replacing the current Resource Management Act system.
• Proposal to replace environmental rules — It would create a new framework for using, protecting, and improving the natural environment, alongside a new land-planning system.
• Proposal to change climate rules — It would change climate adaptation planning, emissions-trading oversight, industrial allocation, and rules for removing carbon.
• Trust could fund more charities — The trust would be able to support charitable purposes beyond energy in eastern Bay of Plenty.
• Housing trust could expand its area — The trust would be able to operate beyond Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.
• Proposal to settle Ngāti Ruapani claims — The proposal would settle agreed claims for Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana, including cultural and economic redress.
• Proposal to settle Ngāti Ruapani claims — The proposal would settle claims for Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana, including land returns, cultural redress and economic redress.
• Proposal to keep some rules in force — It would confirm certain government-made rules so they would not be automatically cancelled.