Advocacy update – September 2025

We know that it’s a challenging environment for many of our members at the moment – and while there are some signs of economic recovery, many people are still struggling and work remains slow. We continue to keep this top of mind in our advocacy work, raising awareness with the Government whenever we can. This remains a top priority for Engineering New Zealand. 

Here’s the latest updates from how we are advocating for you, and what to expect in the coming months.

Submissions

Since the last update, we have made four submissions: 

• Industry Coverage of Industry Skills Boards – August 2025
• Local Government (System Improvements) Amendment Bill – August 2025
• National Direction proposals, Package 4 – August 2025
• Draft National Infrastructure Plan – August 2025

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our submissions- it wouldn’t be possible without you. 

For more information on our forward plan of consultations, visit consultation page. 

Government decisions that affect you 

Granny flats

We are expecting Select Committee to report back on the Building and Construction (Small Stand-alone Dwellings) Amendment Bill shortly. This Bill proposed changes to the Building Act to enable the construction of granny flats. Hopefully, the committee has considered the changes that we suggested in our submission. More information about the Bill is available here.

There will be a range of ongoing consultation in this space and we will continue to keep you updated as policy develops. 

Vocational education reform 

There have been a range of decisions that have been made in the vocational education space, including:

• There will be eight Industry Skills Boards (ISB) - we are expecting engineering to be spread over six of them (Automotive, transport, and logistics, Construction and specialist trades, Infrastructure, Manufacturing and engineering, Services, Electrotechnology and information technology).
• Ten regional polytechnics will be re-established as independent institutions separate from Te Pūkenga, with decisions pending on four other institutions. 
• Nine work-based learning divisions will move from Te Pūkenga to various ISBs, for the transition period. 

You can find more detailed information here.

There is ongoing targeted consultation across a range of areas that we are staying engaged on. We are also expecting Select Committee to report back on the Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill in the coming weeks. This is something we are watching and will provide you with an update in our November edition. 

Four-year term bill 

The Select Committee has now reported back on this Bill, recommending the removal of proposals that would make parliamentary terms change between three and four years based on the composition of select committees. This was what we recommended as we had concerns that a changing political term would be detrimental to the certainty required to deliver significant infrastructure projects. 

It is expected that this Bill will pass in the coming weeks. However, any changes will be subject to a referendum.  Keep an eye out on the beehive website for a summary of what changes have been made once it passes.

Proactive advocacy

We are also advocating to the Government on key issues members have told us they want addressed, including: 

• Infrastructure downturn:  While the ‘shovel-ready’ projects starting before Christmas is slowly starting to help, this is not enough to support a sector that is struggling. However, we have had a recent win where there was confirmation that Treasury will start reporting on actual expenditure on a quarterly basis. This is something we have been advocating for some time, and we continue to look for ways to raise the profile of infrastructure downturn and drive solutions to help bring work to market sooner.
• Standards: We have heard your complaints about the standards system being broken and our work in advocating for change in this area is growing in momentum. We have started to work in collaboration with other industry bodies to help show the urgency needed to reform the standards system – sending a letter sent to four Ministers signed by over 30 organisations, see here. We also continue to work with government agencies to drive change within the standards system and will keep you informed on our progress. 
• Long-term skills shortage: The continued pressure in the industry is making us increasingly concerned that we will not have the engineers we need in the future. We are leading a variety of actions to help address this issue, as listed in our action plan. Keep an eye out on future updates in this space.

Upcoming consultations

We’re expecting more consultations to be announced in the coming months. Some of the key issues we’re keeping an eye on include:

• Resource Management Act legislation
• Public Works Act reform
• Earthquake Prone Building Review
• Science Sector Reforms
• Going for Housing Growth legislation
• Health and Safety reform legislation
• Proportionate liability and consent authority voluntary consolidation legislation
• Building self-certification scheme
• Emergency Management legislation.

You can keep up to date with upcoming consultations we intend to respond to on our consultation page.

Get involved

If you want to know more about our advocacy or to get involved, get in touch at advocacy@engineeringnz.org