The Minister for Regulation
Henry Cooke takes a deep dive into the powers of the new Minister and Ministry for Regulation. He notes:
In other words, we are leaving a world where agencies are encouraged to contact Treasury early to one where agencies must contact this new Ministry of Regulation as early as possible.
That change to “must” is indeed significant.
After all the circular comes alongside the larger Regulatory Standards Bill, which sets an ACT Party view of “good” lawmaking into law and creates a new board, appointed by Seymour, able to pass non-binding judgement on whether existing laws meet these standards.
The transfer of a “deputy prime ministership” – an essentially meaningless role when the Prime Minister is in the country – pales in comparison with the power Seymour is gaining over the machinery of Government. To be clear, there is also a future where this power essentially lays dormant – where agencies twist Seymour’s standards to fit whatever they want to do anyway and he doesn’t have anywhere near enough time to busy himself in the business of any other minister. Yet if he wants to use this power, he certainly has a lot of it.
Deputy PM is a title with no power. Minister for Regulation is a funny title, but one that could prove quite powerful.