We see the agreement as furthering New Zealand's efforts to become an open and competitive economy with strong links to the rest of the world. Trade liberalisation policies going back some 25 years have put the country in a sound position to benefit from freer trade with China. Read more
The Business Roundtable believes that the mandate of local authorities should be more tightly constrained. As a general rule, councils should only be permitted to engage in those activities, including regulatoryactivities, that fall within the proper role of government (as opposed to the private sector) and that should be the responsibility of local rather than central government. Read more
The Business Roundtable has had reservations about the TSO from the outset and agrees it is now outdated. It fails most, if not all, tests of good public policy. Read more
Complaint to the Regulation Review Committee concerning the Order in Council of 3 March 2008 amending the Overseas Investment Regulations 2005. Read more
The Bill aims to increase ACC payments to some categories of persons. It contains a regulatory impact statement (RIS) certified by the Department of Labour that purports to make the case for these proposals. Read more
We acknowledge the government’s need to take action in the light of international developments. We have long supported broad-based price measures as the most efficient means of reducing gross or net emissions, should the case for such action be demonstrated. Read more
The Business Roundtable supports the Regulatory Responsibility Bill (Bill), with the exception of clause 11 that attempts to exclude the courts. We also make a number of suggestions for minor improvements. Read more
The Business Roundtable supports the main features of the current monetary policy framework. It was one of the few business organisations to support the Reserve Bank Act at the time it was adopted by parliament. Read more
The key point of this submission is that the proposals are in breach of the Cabinet’s regulatory analysis requirements. It is up to all the institutions of government, including parliament, to uphold them. Read more
Our submission is largely confined to the so-called 'anti-scalping' provisions of the bill. In our view they should be dropped. Read more
The earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling during the last hundred years, with significant warming between 1970 and 1998. Science suggests some element of human-induced warming but the proportion is very uncertain. Read more
We are interested in this issue because of the principles involved. We recognise the legitimate interests and rights of customary, recreational and commercial fishers and the need to reconcile them in the context of the total allowable catch (TAC). Read more
The greatest weakness of the BPS is its failure to address the central problem of ensuring the future prosperity of New Zealanders by achieving faster growth in average incomes. This has been the government’s stated ‘top priority’ goal. Read more
We share the WRS team’s concern about the lagging performance of the regional economy. Both directly and through the Local Government Forum we have drawn attention to this problem in submissions to the Wellington City Council and the Wellington Regional Council over many years. Read more
We submit that the measures in this Bill represent (i) a major taking of private property rights without an acceptable public-interest justification, (ii) a lack of due process, and (iii) a lack of consideration of the question of compensation. Read more