Emergency Management Bill

The Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery intends to introduce a new bill in the second half of 2025, to be enacted in 2026.

 A discussion document seeking public feedback on legislative reform options is planned to be released. This is likely to be in the first half of 2025.

Groups and organisations will have a say on the legislative changes that affect them. Engagement with groups with a direct interest in our emergency management legislation is being factored into the timeline for the Bill’s development. Where possible, we will minimise time and resource pressure on stakeholders by channeling engagement through existing meeting platforms, and coordinate engagement on similar topics.

Staged approach

A “rolling” policy and drafting approach is being taken, where policy decisions are made through a series of Cabinet papers so that Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) can progress drafting the bill alongside finalisation of the policy. 

This approach makes the most of work undertaken on the previous bill and maximises the time to develop new policy and engage on it. It enables PCO to start drafting straightforward aspects of the bill in parallel to the policy work, reducing the risk of delays or errors.

A discussion document seeking public feedback on legislative reform options is planned to be released. This is likely to be in the first half of 2025.

The discussion document and details about how individuals and organisations can provide their feedback a new Bill will be provided in due course on this page

The public will also have the opportunity to make submissions when the Bill is before the Select Committee. The Select Committee will set the timetable for submissions.

Groups and organisations will have a say on the legislative changes that affect them. Engagement with groups with a direct interest in our emergency management legislation is being factored into the timeline for the Bill’s development. Where possible, we will minimise time and resource pressure on stakeholders by channeling engagement through existing meeting platforms, and coordinate engagement on similar topics.

In addition to direct engagement with key stakeholders, a discussion document seeking public feedback on legislative reform options is planned to be released. This is likely to be in the first half of 2025.

There will also be an opportunity to make submissions when the Bill is before the Select Committee. The Select Committee will set the timetable for submissions.

Legislative reform is required to enable the emergency management system that New Zealanders expect. A new bill is required to fully deliver on the Government Response to the NISWE Inquiry and enable an emergency management system that can meet the growing risk we face.

 Additionally, the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act (CDEM Act) is 22 years old and inconsistent with modern legislative design and drafting practice. These issues would not be addressed through an amendment bill.

The submissions on the previous Bill are informing work being done to develop the new Bill and make other system improvements.

Several operationally-focused proposals from the previous bill will be adopted, as set out in Appendix One to the Cabinet paper: Strengthening disaster resilience and emergency management: legislative implications (pdf 1.3mb).

In some cases, technical changes to these proposals will be required, including to take account of select committee submissions on the previous bill.

While it is too early to provide any specific details about the content of the new bill, iwi and Māori will have a say on legislative changes that affect them.

Engagement with the National Iwi Chairs Forum along with other Māori organisations will inform the development of the new bill.

This will complement other work to recognise and enable the significant contribution of iwi and Māori in emergency management that will be delivered through the Emergency Management System Improvement Programme (EMSIP) – the work to deliver on the Government’s response to the North Island Severe Weather Events Inquiry.

One of the objectives of the new bill is to provide for clear responsibilities at the national, regional, and local levels.

This will complement other work to implement change in the emergency management system that will be delivered through the Emergency Management System Improvement Programme (EMSIP).

Strengthening Disaster Resilience and Emergency Management: Legislative Implications (.pdf 1.3mb)

• The following documents have been included in this release:
  • Title of paper: Strengthening disaster resilience and emergency management: legislative implications (CAB-24-SUB-0458 refers)
  • Title of minute: Report of the Cabinet Economic Policy Committee: Period Ended 22 November 2024 (CAB-24-MIN-0458 refers)
  • Title of minute: Strengthening Disaster Resilience and Emergency Management: Legislative Implications (ECO-24-MIN-0269 refers)

The Government decided not to proceed with the previous Emergency Management Bill.  

Information about the decision is provided in the following proactively released material:

• Documents relating to the Government’s decision to not proceed with the Emergency Management Bill (.pdf 3mb)
  • The following documents have been included in this release:
    • Title of paper: Discharging the Emergency Management Bill (LEG-24-SUB-0039 refers)
    • Title of minute: Report of the Cabinet Legislation Committee Minute (CAB-24-MIN-0099 refers)
    • Title of minute: Discharging the Emergency Management Bill (LEG-24-SUB-0039 refers)
    • Title of briefing: Emergency Management Bill: overview and next steps
    • Annex One: Timeline of emergency management primary legislation
    • Annex Two: Subsidiary instruments made under the CDEM Act 2002
    • Annex Three: The 4Rs of emergency management
    • Annex Four: Structural arrangements under CDEM Act and EM Bill
    • Annex Five: Planning arrangements under CDEM Act and EM Bill
    • Main changes made through the Emergency Management Bill

On 6 May 2024 the Governance and Administration Select Committee reported back to the House without further consideration. On 8 May 2024 the Bill was discharged from Parliament.

• The discharged Bill can be viewed at Emergency Management Bill 225-1 (2023), Government Bill – New Zealand Legislation 
• View progress of the discharged Bill through Parliament Emergency Management Bill (bills.parliament.nz)