Every country has a comprehensive set of laws and regulations to prevent chaos and ensure its residents can work toward better lives for themselves and the collective.
These laws and regulations often need to be updated, either because they’re old and don’t reflect modern times or because new laws are required due to the evolution of crime or sociopolitical issues. As such, many countries have new or revised laws in progress each year.
New Zealand is no different. Each year, a selection of laws (new or revised) is tabled for review. Should these make it past every hurdle in the process, they are signed in and become part of the binding code of living in the country.
Some of these laws are small and don’t affect many people, while others, like the 2024 law that allows gamblers in the country to start to explore the best online casinos in the NZ, have a more measurable impact on individuals and society at large.
To help you learn about them and better understand how they could impact you, we’ve examined the laws tabled for finalization in 2025 below.
Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2025
The Employment Relations Amendment Bill (ERAB) is tabled for 2025 and suggests significant changes to the current employment landscape in the country through four primary focuses:
Employee Remedies
The proposed changes to employee remedies seek to amend current laws to discourage unnecessary claims and help balance the manner in which employee disputes are handled. These include how remedies are assessed when dealing with personal grievance claims.
This will be achieved by removing the option for a remedy for any employee caught engaging in grievous misconduct. It also removes the ability for employees to be reinstated if their own actions or attitudes contributed to their dismissal in any way.
High-Income Unjustified Dismissal Threshold
Also, regarding personal grievance claims, the law seeks to create a threshold of NZD 180,000 per year above which they can no longer be pursued. This is proposed to help reduce the amount of legal fees in high-income challenge cases and discourage unnecessary cases.
Pay Deductions
Due to the possibility of industrial action, the amendments also lay a framework under which an employer can make partial deductions on an employee’s pay based on their level of participation in an occurrence of industrial action. This can vary depending on how their level of involvement affects the key parts of their job.
Settlement Agreement
Proposed under the subtitle of Employment Relations (Termination of Employment by Agreement) Amendment Bill, this gives employers the right to offer a settlement agreement to any employee as a final form of payment and waiver of additional action to end the employment relationship.
This provision allows employers and employees to request termination of employment and, if mutually agreed upon, terminate employment through a settlement agreement.
Treaty Principles Bill
The next proposed law for 2025 has already sparked considerable controversy. The Treaty Principles Bill aims to clarify the Treaty of Waitangi, established between the Crown and Māori living in the country.
In essence, the bill attempts to clarify that the New Zealand Government has the right to govern all New Zealanders—whether of Māori descent or not—and that the New Zealand Government will honour all New Zealanders, including those who fall under a chieftainship due to the location of their property.
Finally, the bill also aims to clarify that all New Zealanders are equal in the eyes of the government and are to be held accountable under the same law. Each New Zealander has the same rights and duties as part of this.
Despite sounding positive in that it sets all Kiwis up to be on the same level, major concerns have been raised over the bill’s potential to undermine the rights of the Māori people and how it will change established interpretations of the Treaty.
Many believe that this could increase social division between Māori and non-Māori residents and reduce rights for Māori citizens. As such, there are many arguments against the bill.
Regulatory Standards Bill
The Regulatory Standards Bill, proposed as a safeguard against the introduction of new bills, is set to affect the lawmakers within the country. The bill aims to overhaul the process of lawmaking in the country by ensuring that any regulatory decisions are made using good lawmaking principles and are rooted in economic efficiency.
In theory, should this occur, the bill will improve the quality of any regulation passed by the government. To ensure this, the bill also proposes the establishment of a regulatory standards board that will address any shortcomings on the government’s side and any concerns citizens may have about existing laws.
Accredited Employer Work Visa (AWEV) Revisions
Despite being passed in 2024, the Accredited Employer Work Visa changes are only scheduled to be rolled out over four stages in 2025. Among these changes are the removal of a median wage requirement for migrant workers, the reduction in experience required, an increase in visa duration, the creation of new avenues for seasonal workers, and a streamlined job check process.
The revisions will also remove online employer module requirements, increase the income threshold for those with dependent children, reduce the domestic workforce threshold, and change the labour market.
These changes to the AWEV requirements are aimed at promoting economic growth by providing greater access to workers and addressing labour shortages within the country. However, care needs to be taken to balance this, as an overreliance on migrant workers could stunt skills development and the removal of the median wage could cause companies to take advantage of workers.
Conclusion
Each of the above laws proposed for 2025 is likely to have a meaningful impact on New Zealand and its residents. However, considering how much controversy surrounds some of them, it remains to be seen whether any of these proposed laws will actually be accepted and finalised.