Emergency Management Bill

From 15 April to 13 May 2025 we are inviting submissions on the issues and options outlined in the discussion document. Your feedback will help inform further policy development and shape changes to New Zealand’s emergency management legislation.

• Consultation overview factsheet (.pdf 110kb)

We have identified sixteen issues and options for addressing them:

• Issue 1: Meeting the diverse needs of people and communities
• Issue 2: Strengthening and enabling iwi Māori participation in emergency management
• Issue 3: Strengthening and enabling community participation in emergency management
• Issue 4: Recognising that people, businesses and communities are often the first to respond in an emergency
• Issue 5: Clearer direction and control during an emergency
• Issue 6: Strengthening the regional tier of emergency management
• Issue 7: Keeping emergency management plans up to date
• Issue 8: Stronger national direction and assurance
• Issue 9: Strengthening local hazard risk management
• Issue 10: Strengthening due consideration of taonga Māori, cultural heritage and animals during and after emergencies
• Issue 11: Reducing disruption to the infrastructure that provides essential services
• Issue 12: Strengthening central government business continuity
• Issue 13: Managing access to restricted areas
• Issue 14: Clarifying who exercises emergency powers at the local level
• Issue 15: Modernising the process to enter a state of emergency or transition period
• Issue 16: Mayors’ role in local state of emergency declarations and transition period notices

To help us determine the best options, we would like your views on:

• how we have described each problem
• the likely impacts (benefits or risks) of the initial options we have identified (including any preferred options)
• any alternative options that haven’t been identified.

We have developed a detailed discussion document to help people make their submissions. We recommend you read the discussion document before having your say.

The discussion document is structured around the Government’s proposed objectives for the Bill. It provides an overview of New Zealand’s current emergency management settings and the need for reform, followed by chapters that discuss the issues and options for each objective.

Throughout the document we have asked a series of questions which you can answer as part of your submission. You don’t have to answer all of them.

• Discussion document: Strengthening New Zealand’s emergency management legislation (.pdf 1.9mb)

A summary version of the discussion document is also available.

• Summary version of discussion document (.pdf 111kb)
• Audio - Summary version of discussion document (.mp3 4mb)
• Braille - Summary version of discussion document (.brf 9kb)
• Large print - Summary version of discussion document (.pdf 241kb)
• Large print - Summary version of discussion document (.docx 113kb)
• Easy Read - Summary version of discussion document (.pdf 3.6mb)
• Easy Read - Summary version of discussion document (.docx 15.8mb)

Send us your feedback by 5pm, Tuesday 13 May 2025.

You can make your submission online:

Have your say

Your submission can respond to some or all of the issues raised in the discussion document. Where possible, include evidence to support your views, such as references to independent research, facts and figures, or relevant examples.

You can also make a written submission by:

• emailing your submission to EmergencyManagementBill@nema.govt.nz 
• posting your submission to:

Policy Unit
National Emergency Management Agency
PO Box 5010
Wellington 6140

Please use the submission template if you are emailing or posting your submission. This will help us to collate submissions and ensure your views are fully considered. If you are emailing your submission please provide attachments in .docx format.

• Submission template (.docx 290kb)

Submissions will be used to inform NEMA’s policy development process and will inform advice to Ministers. Your submission (including identifying information) may also be shared with other government agencies working on policies related to emergency management.

NEMA may publish copies and/or summaries of submissions received on our website, civildefence.govt.nz. NEMA will consider that you have consented to this by making a submission, unless you specify otherwise in your submission. Additionally, submissions provided to NEMA, whether published or not, may be required to be disclosed in response to a request under the Official Information Act 1982.

If your submission contains confidential information, or information you otherwise wish us not to publish, please indicate this on the front of the submission template, with any confidential information marked clearly within the text.

If you have any objection to us releasing your personal details or any other information in your submission, either publicly or with other government agencies, please state this clearly in the cover letter or email that goes with your submission, including the parts that you consider should be withheld and your reasons for withholding the information. NEMA will take your objections into account and consult relevant submitters when responding to requests under the Official Information Act 1982.

You also have rights under the Privacy Act 2020 in relation to the way that NEMA (and other government agencies) can collect, use, and disclose information about you and individuals referred to in your submission. In particular, you have the right to access personal information that NEMA holds about you and to seek any corrections.

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

From 15 April to 13 May 2025 we are inviting submissions on the issues and options outlined in the discussion document.

Final policy decisions are expected to be made later this year, before the introduction of a new Emergency Management Bill.

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.

We recommend you read the discussion document before having your say.

The discussion document is structured around the Government’s proposed objectives for the Bill. It provides an overview of New Zealand’s current emergency management settings and the need for reform, followed by chapters that discuss the issues and options for each objective.

Throughout the document we have asked a series of questions which you can answer as part of your submission. You don’t have to answer all of them.

The issues and options in the discussion document aim to support the proposed objectives for the bill. They also aim to address concerns raised by submitters on the previous bill and findings from inquiries and reviews into emergency events.

Stakeholders across the emergency management system have also been consulted in the development of the issues and options.

To ensure the discussion document supports an open conversation, the document does not indicate preferred options for each issue but does provide indicative risks and benefits at a high level.

Through the discussion document, we are seeking to test whether we have accurately identified and defined the underlying problems and considered all viable options. Each issue has a range of legislative and non-legislative intervention options from status quo to varying levels of regulatory change.

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.

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

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

The Bill will address the legislative reform needed to strengthen the emergency management system. Alongside the development of the Bill, work on wider system improvements, such as community readiness and workforce capability, is being addressed through the Emergency Management System Improvement Programme (EMSIP).

EMSIP has been set up to implement the actions agreed to in the Government Response to the Government Inquiry into the Response to the North Island Severe Weather Events.

While it is too early to provide any specific details about the content of the new bill, the discussion document includes non-legislative and legislative options to strengthen and enable iwi Māori participation in emergency management.

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 proposed objectives of the new bill is providing for clear responsibilities and accountabilities at the national, regional, and local levels.

The Government has already agreed that the Emergency Management Bill will:

• Recognise ambulance services as an emergency service.
• Make the chief executive of NEMA hold the role of Director, reflecting NEMA’s establishment as a departmental agency. This role will be renamed to “Director-General.”

We are seeking feedback on further issues and options relating to this objective through the discussion document.

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)