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Environmental Reporting Amendment Bill

This bill would amend the Environmental Reporting Act 2015. Among other things, the amendments would restate the purpose of the Act to clarify its intended use and outcomes of reporting, reduce the frequency of synthesis reports (state of the environment reports), strengthen the mechanisms for data collection and set data collection standards, and add drivers and outlooks as required components of environmental reports.

This bill has been accorded urgency in the House, with referral to a select committee. First detected 11 July 2026, 9:20am UTC.

Member in charge: Hon Nicola Grigg · Government bill · No. 321-1 · urgency accorded 30 Jun 2026 (the first reading and referral to a select committee of)
Bill on parliament.nz → RSS

Want a say? This bill is still moving

Urgency compresses the timetable, not the politics. Until the third reading, the committee of the whole House can still amend the bill — changes are moved right up to the final vote. The channels that operate at this speed:

  • Contact the member in charge — Hon Nicola Grigg — whose office decides what amendments are put, and your electorate MP. Members’ offices monitor correspondence while the House sits; a specific, clause-level point travels furthest.
  • Contact the opposition spokesperson for this portfolio — they speak and move amendments in the committee stage, and concrete problems raised by affected people are exactly what they put on the record.
  • Prepare a submission — this bill was referred to a select committee, so a public submission window is likely to open. Use the bill’s parliament.nz page (“Get notifications”) to catch it the moment it opens.
  • Start or sign a petition at petitions.parliament.nz — the formal channel that stays open regardless of the House’s timetable.

Stages observed

StageSitting dayRecord
Introduction 23 Jun 2026 Introduction of bills: Environmental Reporting Amendment Bill source · debate & vote (Hansard)
First reading 30 Jun 2026 The Environmental Reporting Amendment Bill was read a first time and referred to the Environment Committee. source · debate & vote (Hansard)

Dates are sitting days as recorded by the Office of the Clerk; a sitting extended under urgency continues under its original day. Readings are decided by party vote: each party casts its members’ votes en bloc (proxies included), so the whole House needn’t be present and individual attendance isn’t recorded — the party-by-party tally for each reading is in that day’s Hansard, linked per stage above.

What this touches

Topics in the OpenBrief corpus matched to this bill’s title, with their volume over the last six weeks — how loud the subject already was when urgency was moved. This is retrieval against our existing corpus, not model judgement.

TopicPress items · 6wkSocial posts · 6wk
pollution reporting 2 1

What this bill changes

AI-assisted analysis · every claim links to primary source · corrections
Published 13 Jul 2026, 7:21am UTC (separate from, and later than, the alert timestamp above) · model: claude-opus-4-8

In short: The frequency of state-of-the-environment (synthesis) reports is reduced from every 3 years to every 6 years.

What changes
Changes a threshold State of the environment reports must be published once every 6 years instead of the previous 3-yearly synthesis reports.
cl 8 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 9 · affects: Secretary for the Environment, public, decision makers · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“A state of the environment report must be published once every 6 years.”
Narrows a power The Secretary alone produces and publishes environmental reports, replacing the shared role of the Secretary and Government Statistician.
cl 8 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 7 · affects: Secretary for the Environment, Government Statistician · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“The Secretary must produce and publish reports on New Zealand’s environment.”
Creates an obligation State of the environment reports must describe drivers that influence pressures on the environment and outlooks based on identified data and trends.
cl 8 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 8 · affects: Secretary for the Environment, public, decision makers · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“the drivers that influence pressures on New Zealand’s environment; and”
Creates an obligation Commentary reports must be published at least once every 12 months, except in a year when a state of the environment report is required.
cl 8 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 12 · affects: Secretary for the Environment, public · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“A commentary report must be published at least once every 12 months, unless subsection (2) applies.”
Creates an obligation The Secretary must set environmental indicators and specify scientific monitoring standards and methods for collecting environmental indicator data, publishing both online.
cl 8 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 14B · affects: Secretary for the Environment, local government, data providers · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“The Secretary must specify scientific environmental monitoring standards and methods for collecting environmental indicator data.”
Expands a power Regulations are made on the recommendation of the Minister for the Environment alone, removing the requirement for a joint recommendation with the Minister of Statistics.
cl 13 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 19 · affects: Minister for the Environment, Minister of Statistics · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“In section 19(1), delete “joint”.”
Expands a power A Strategic Evidence Panel of 7 to 9 members is established to provide independent advice to the Secretary, with members appointed and removable by the Secretary.
cl 14 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 20 · affects: Secretary for the Environment, Panel members, Ministry for the Environment · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“This section establishes the Strategic Evidence Panel (the Panel).”
Creates an obligation The Secretary must produce data and evidence priorities reports listing priority areas for improving environmental data and evidence, published within 6 months of each state of the environment report.
cl 8 → Environmental Reporting Act 2015, s 13 · affects: Secretary for the Environment, Government Statistician · confidence: high
The bill text this is based on
“The Secretary must, in consultation with the Government Statistician, produce and publish data and evidence priorities reports.”
Who this affects
Secretary for the Environmentpublicdecision makersGovernment Statisticianlocal governmentdata providersMinister for the EnvironmentMinister of StatisticsPanel membersMinistry for the Environment
Scrutiny

Taken under urgency; the compressed timetable limited scrutiny even where a committee stage existed.

Commencement: The Act comes into force on 1 May 2027.
Retrospective: no provision identified
Gaps we can see. Clauses whose effect could not be established from the bill text alone: cl 5 (amends definitions in s 4; effect of removed/updated definitions depends on the current Act text not supplied), cl 6 (amends s 5 Treaty provision; current text of s 5 not supplied), cl 10 and cl 11 (delete references in ss 15 and 16; underlying duty text not supplied).

Method: the model reads the bill as published (claude-opus-4-8); every claim above carries a verbatim span of that text, checked mechanically — claims that fail the check are dropped, not softened. Text analysed from an archived copy of the official text. Full methodology →

Source record — the urgency motion as published
30 June 2026 — scope: the first reading and referral to a select committee of (First reading, Referral to select committee) 
A motion to accord urgency to the following business was agreed to:
- the remaining stages of:
  - the Antisocial Road Use Legislation Amendment Bill;
  - the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill;
  - the Offshore Renewable Energy Bill;
  - the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill; and
  - the Regulatory Systems (Primary Industries) Amendment Bill;
- the first reading and referral to a select committee of:
  - the Building Amendment Bill; and
  - the Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Bill;
- the second reading of:
  - the Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill;
  - the Crimes Amendment Bill;
  - the Land Transport (Revenue) Amendment Bill;
  - the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Amendment Bill; and
  - the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) (3 Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill;
- the first reading and referral to a select committee of:
  - the Community Magistrates Legislation Amendment Bill; and
  - the Environmental Reporting Amendment Bill;
- the second reading of:
  - the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Bill; and
  - the Emergency Management Bill (No 2);
- the first reading and referral to a select committee of the Regulatory Systems (Social Security) Amendment Bill (No 2);
- the discharge and re-committal to a select committee of the Regulatory Systems (Courts) Amendment Bill; and
- the remaining stages of:
  - the Regulatory Systems (Tribunals) Amendment Bill and the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill;
  - the Mental Health Bill;
  - the Plain Language Act Repeal Bill; and
  - the Constitution Amendment Bill.
Source: Daily progress in the House → · Hansard for this sitting day →