Inside Christopher Luxon’s latest action plan – what you need to know

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ANALYSIS
We’re up to the Government’s fourth action plan, with hundreds of items ticked off since being sworn in under a year ago.

Can’t you tell? Isn’t everything rosier? That probably depends on who you ask. Tax cuts are through and interest rates are falling, though the economy is still
barely limping forward.

The previous plan had a focus on law and order, and while there was some good police data around serious assaults in the Auckland CBD, the trend in violent crime was heading in the wrong direction.
This plan is focused on infrastructure, though there is already one glaring omission – the interislander ferries. The Herald shines a small spotlight on each item.
Pass the Fast-track Approvals Bill to speed up delivery of regional and national projects of significance.
This is a National-NZ First coalition commitment and is meant to be the Government’s game-changer on quickly enabling infrastructure projects. Final say was initially given to a troika of ministers, but this has since been shifted to an expert panel following a barrage of concerns about ministerial overreach. Critics still argue that environmental factors will still not be given sufficient weight.
The bill is expected to be reported back from the Environment Committee on October 18.
The bill will include projects that will be sent to the panel, though this is yet to be released. The Government provided a broad breakdown in August: of the 384 proposals that had applied to be included, 40% were to do with housing, 24% “infrastructure projects”, 18% renewable energy, 8% primary industries, 5% mining, and 5% quarrying.
Introduce the Government’s second RMA reform Bill to Parliament to cut through the tangle of red and green tape holding back growth in the infrastructure, energy, housing, and farming sectors.
Flagged in August. Part of a package aiming to make it easier to get renewable energy consents; put solar farms and greenhouses on “highly productive land”; provide a consistent framework for councils to identify and respond to natural hazards; and create more housing including granny flats and on Māori land.
Introduce legislation to support Government agencies to combat foreign interference in New Zealand.
This follows a report in September which said the level of foreign interference activity here was an “ongoing concern”. It specifically called out China as being a “complex intelligence concern”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the Government wanted to “make sure we have got the most up-to-date legal framework and protection that we need to combat foreign interference”. He would not say if this was in response to concerns about interference from China or Russia, another country accused of interfering here.
Introduce legislation to address stalking.
A pledge from National in the election campaign, though not necessarily supported at the time by coalition partners. Labour and the Greens, however, both support this in principle so National may not need the votes of coalition partners to progress this.
Calls to create a new “stalking” offence grew louder following the murder of AUT student Farzana Yaqubi in 2022 by Kanwarpal Singh, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder. She had gone to police with concerns she was being harassed two months before she was murdered.
Launch an updated Smokefree Action Plan to continue progress towards the Smokefree 2025 goal.
A briefing in April reveals that minimising youth vaping is a key part of Associate Health Minister Casey Costello’s policy direction for the updated plan. The Government is already progressing a bill (see below) aimed at achieving this.
The plan itself will attract attention given the pressure Costello has been under for cutting taxes for heated tobacco products – despite no evidence they are a useful smoking cessation tool – and the repeal of Labour’s smokefree generation legislation. Luxon has backed her as dedicated to reducing the proportion of the population who smoke to 5% by the end of next year.
The NZ First Minister has said she has no connections to the tobacco industry, though two former NZ First staffers hold senior corporate communication positions at Philip Morris, while fellow Minister Shane Jones has acknowledged the involvement of one of those people in the development of party policy.
Costello has also been reprimanded by the Chief Ombudsman over an official document in her office, author unknown, saying “nicotine is as harmful as caffeine”.
Introduce legislation to expand the Traffic Light System to include additional consequences for beneficiaries who do not meet their obligations.
A new benefit traffic light system was announced in August aimed at reducing welfare dependency, though critics said the new sanctions won’t work.
Neither coalition agreement commits to further consequences than what’s already been outlined, though Act campaigned on tighter controls, including cutting welfare for drug addicts who refused treatment.
Negotiate contracts with, and announce, the first charter schools.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has said so far around half of the 78 applications are unlikely to be successful. He wants 15 new charter schools to open early next year.
Commence a review of the funding formula for independent schools.
This was flagged earlier this year by Seymour, who said he wanted private schools to get bigger subsidies from the Government – which was conditionally supported by Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Since a small rise in 2010, there’s been no increase or inflation adjustment to the $48 million annual fund.
Initiate a third regulatory sector review to identify and remove unnecessary red tape.
A National-Act commitment, this would be the third following earlier reviews into the Early Childhood Education sector, and agricultural and horticultural products. An upcoming review could be into the finance sector, or healthcare occupational licensing, as suggested in the National-Act coalition agreement.
Take Cabinet decisions on the future of the greyhound racing industry.
Racing Minister Winston Peters told a select committee in June that “dogs love racing”, but he was “utterly opposed” to animal cruelty. He said he didn’t want to rush a decision that could see the Government facing legal action.
Labour and Greens want the industry shut down. The previous government put the industry on notice following reports of no improvement to animal welfare practices, but no action was taken before the election.
Luxon has previously expressed support for a ban on greyhound racing, but since becoming Prime Minister he has added that it is now a matter for Peters to consider.
Introduce legislation to ensure the financial sustainability of the racing industry.
There’s been no indication from Peters so far this term on what this legislation might look like.
In a previous stint as Racing Minister, in 2020, he won a $72.5 million package for “emergency support” for the industry following the start of the Covid pandemic. It included $20m for two new all-weather racing tracks, both of which have since opened.
A Racing NZ-commissioned report earlier this year found that racing added a total of $1.3b in value to the economy while employing 9500 people fulltime.
Establish the National Infrastructure Agency.
The Government has previously said that Crown Infrastructure Partners will be repurposed into the National Infrastructure Agency from December 1. It will be the Crown’s “shopfront” to receive unsolicited proposals and facilitate private sector investment in infrastructure.
Take Cabinet decisions on funding and financing tools to get more housing built.
These are likely to do with National’s campaign policies to reform the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act to reduce red tape for housing developers, and to remove the need for councils to fund greenfield infrastructure from their balance sheets.
National also wanted a $1 billion “Build-for-Growth incentive” fund – $25,000 to councils for every house delivered above the five-year average in the council area.
Introduce legislation to make it easier to build offshore wind farms.
This will enable a new regime the Government announced in August for offshore renewable energy: feasibility permits that will last for seven years for a specified area, and commercial permits for up to 40 years to enable building and operating offshore infrastructure, which could be eligible for fast-track consents.
Pass the first Resource Management Amendment Bill to reduce the regulatory burden on farmers and the primary sector.
This bill is part of both coalition agreements to make “allow farmers to farm”. It has just been reported back from the Primary Production Committee, and it slashes a series of requirements that currently affect freshwater management, mining, and intensive winter grazing, among other things.
Labour and the Greens say the bill, like the Fast-track Approvals Bill, will lead to environmental degradation.
Finalise the development of farm-level emissions measurement methodology.
Under the previous Government, farmers would have begun paying emissions prices next year. Last year National campaigned on measuring emissions at farm level from next year, but farmers would only begin paying an emissions price in 2030. About half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture.
Announce policy direction to limit farm conversions to forestry on high-quality land to protect food production.
National campaigned on preventing the “loss of valuable agricultural land” by limiting new farm-to-forest conversions, including a three-year moratorium on whole farm conversions to exotic forestry on high-quality land.
Publish the final second emissions reduction plan to deliver the first two emissions budgets.
Consultation on this plan closed in August. It proposed increasing renewable energy, targeting 10,000 public EV chargers by 2023, investing in waste minimisation, and improving public transport, though the latter has been given a much smaller share of the Government’s transport budget compared to roads.
This plan covers the emissions budget for 2026 to 2030. The Government remains committed to net zero by 2050, though critics have highlighted policies that undercut this direction.
Take Cabinet decisions on allowing greater use of road tolling to support the delivery of transport infrastructure.
The Government has already started consultation on proposals to toll three roads: the Takitimu North Link, the Manawatū Gorge, and Ōtaki to north of Levin. Tolling will be crucial to raising the transport revenue the Government needs to plug a yawning $6b funding gap it created for itself later this decade.
Take Cabinet decisions on measures to get local councils back to basics.
This follows Luxon’s warning at the Local Government NZ conference in August that the Government plans to put a revenue cap on “non-core activities”, which was met with pushback from local authorities and questions over an apparent inconsistency with Luxon’s constant rhetoric about the importance of localism.
Take Cabinet decisions to streamline regulations around food safety export exemptions.
Consultation began in June over a new export exemption for food businesses. The proposal would mean exporters would manage their process for meeting other countries’ food safety requirements, which would no longer need an exemption from the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Release a discussion document on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
A step towards the National-Act commitment to “legislate to improve the quality of regulation, ensuring that regulatory decisions are based on principles of good law-making and economic efficiency, by passing the Regulatory Standards Act as soon as practicable”.
Seymour has previously had a similar bill that was defeated in 2021, and which was based on earlier iterations. It aimed to provide a set of principles for good regulation including the rule of law, protection of individual liberties and property rights, and “good law-making” processes.
Take Cabinet decisions on opportunities to partner with the private sector to plant trees, including natives, on Crown land (excluding National Parks) that has low conservation or agricultural value.
This is also part of the Government’s proposals in its draft emissions reduction plan: to harness private investment to plant trees on Crown land.
“Native forests can provide a long-term carbon sink and co-benefits, including biodiversity and adaptation value,” the draft plan said. Assuming planting from 2027, the Government thinks there could be plantings of indigenous trees of 5000ha in 2027 and 7500ha from 2028, and exotic planting of 10,000ha from 2027.
Take final design decisions on the primary legislation for an online casino gambling regulator.
The Government wants a new regulatory system in place from early 2026 and announced in July that it would auction a limited number of licences for online gambling. The minimum betting age would be 18, and operators could only offer online casino games, not sports betting or lottery products.
New Zealand-based online casinos are illegal at present, but SkyCity Entertainment operates one based in Malta and has long called for a regulated industry.
Introduce legislation to remove the GE ban and enable the safe use of gene technology in agriculture, health science and other sectors.
Science Minister Judith Collins announced a new regime in August with a view to having a bill before Parliament based on Australian law. It would enable the use of GE outside the lab, including in genetically modified crops following a risk assessment, and include a new regulator to issue a licence for the crops to be released.
Introduce legislation to enable stronger consequences for serious youth offending.
This is the new category of offender that National outlined in the election campaign. A young person convicted of two crimes with a sentence of at least 10 years could be deemed a Young Serious Offender and sent to a military-style academy, or boot camp.
A pilot that will inform these boot camps is currently underway under existing legislative settings. The Government has said the boot camps will be different from those that have failed in the past, and even led to traumatising those in state care.
Begin phased rollout of expansion of free breast cancer screening for women to age 74.
A National campaign promise, the Government says this will see 120,000 more women eligible for screening every two years. Women who participate in the existing programme are 34% less likely to die from breast cancer.
Is there the workforce and the space in the under-pressure health system to accommodate this?
Release first quarterly health target data for cancer treatment, immunisation, emergency departments, specialist assessments, and elective treatment.
This is the monitoring of the targets that Health Minister Shane Reti released in March.
Provide 10,000 jobseeker beneficiaries with an over-the-phone case manager to help them move from welfare into work.
This is an extension of Social Development Minister Louise Upston’s announcement in July of a new phone-based case management service to initially provide 4000 more job seekers with support.
It is targeted at job seekers aged 18 to 24.
Publish the second action plan on family and sexual violence.
A recent review of the first Te Aorerekura action plan found that “over half” of its 40 actions were completed.
Last year an Auditor-General report said little progress had been made in the way the various agencies work together. It also found that work by individual agencies might be reducing family violence and sexual violence but was not consistently supporting the changes needed to achieve the plan’s aims, such as primary prevention. The board overseeing the plan, Te Puna Aonui, told the Justice Committee the second plan would address these concerns.
Begin trial of phonics checks in English and te reo Māori for students in their first two years of school.
This was flagged last month when Education Minister Erica Stanford said 80 schools will trial the phonics check to ensure it is ready to roll out nationwide from the start of 2025. They will be done after 20 weeks of schooling and repeated after 40 weeks.
Release final curriculum for English, maths, Te Reo Rangatira, and Pāngarau for use in primary schools in 2025.
An overhaul of the curriculum has been underway since 2019, but Stanford has stamped her mark on this work by driving a more prescriptive and knowledge-based curriculum – not without critics.
The English and Te Reo Rangatira curriculum for years 0-6 have been made available since July for schools to provide feedback. From the start of Term 4, English, maths, and science and technology are available for schools and kura. The Government has invested $20m for professional development in bringing forward the maths and Pāngarau curricula to the start of 2025.
Some educators are worried that rushing in so many changes will overload teachers.
Release a Māori Education Action Plan focussed on lifting the achievement of Māori students.
This follows Stanford setting up a Māori Education Ministerial Advisory Group last month.
Pass legislation to complete the removal of agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme.
An election promise, a bill that would do this is due to be reported back from the Primary Production Committee on November 1.
Pass legislation to reverse the ban on oil and gas exploration.
A commitment in coalition agreements, a bill enabling this was sent to select committee last week, with only four working days for public submissions. An assessment by the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment estimated this would add an extra 51 million tonnes of emissions between now and 2050 – the equivalent of New Zealand’s net emissions in 2008.
The Government argues it is necessary to keep coal imports to a minimum in times of energy scarcity, though it is estimated that it will take 10 years to discover and develop a new gas field.
Pass legislation extending deadlines for earthquake-prone buildings to enable a review of the current settings.
A bill to do this is before Parliament, which would extend the remediation deadline for all non-lapsed earthquake-prone buildings by four years. There are over 5000 such buildings, and the Government is reviewing the system to make it more simple and clear.
Pass the Contracts of Insurance Bill to better protect Kiwis in the event of a disaster.
This bill is designed to save people waiting for months on end for their insurers to pay out compensation in the wake of extreme weather events. It will shift the onus of disclosure duties to insurers, making it harder for them to deny claims.
Pass legislation to allow lotteries for non-commercial purposes to operate online, cutting red tape to make fundraising more effective.
A bill is already before select committee to enable this. It would allow charities to continue fundraising online instead of needing to revert to post or in person in November this year.
Pass legislation to tighten controls on youth vaping, including a ban on disposable devices.
A bill to do this is currently before Parliament. It would ban disposable vapes, increase fines (from $10,000 to $100,000) for selling to under-18s, restrict shop visibility, and have more restrictions on vape stores near ECE centres.
Introduce legislation to update and modernise the Mental Health Act.
This has already been ticked off with a bill introduced yesterday. It builds on work since the He Ara Oranga report in 2018, which recommended repealing and replacing the Mental Health Act with legislation reflecting a human rights-based approach, including measures to minimise compulsory or coercive treatment.
Open applications for the contaminated sites and vulnerable landfills fund to support local authorities to remediate contaminated sites.
Already ticked. Yesterday Environment Minister Penny Simmonds announced applications for the $30m fund were open.
Introduce legislation to tighten registration requirements for child sex offenders.
This appears to be a continuation of work from the previous Government, and was ticked off yesterday with the introduction of the Child Protection Amendment Bill.
The bill would require offenders to report attendance at education courses, to give seven instead of two days’ notice for leaving the country, and to report returning to New Zealand within three days of arriving instead of 10 days.
Begin delivery of new cancer treatments.
Also ticked off already, with funding for Keytruda, a vital cancer medicine, starting from yesterday.
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the Press Gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.
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