Release Date: 23rd June 2025
The Associated New Zealand Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Society (ANZMES) has lodged a formal submission opposing the Regulatory Standards Bill currently before the Finance and Expenditure Committee, warning that the legislation poses serious threats to public health, equity, and democratic governance.
While framed as a mechanism for improving legislation, ANZMES argues that the Bill prioritises corporate interests and economic efficiency at the expense of community wellbeing, Māori rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the government’s ability to protect its citizens.
“This Bill would codify neglect, lock in inequities, and diminish the government’s ability to act in the public interest,” said ANZMES President, Fiona Charlton.
Key concerns raised by ANZMES include:
- Erosion of Public Health Protections: The Bill’s failure to include a public harm principle and its introduction of ‘takings’ provisions could deter life-saving regulations such as tobacco control, healthy housing, and pandemic preparedness.
- Undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Bill promotes a narrow and universalist interpretation of “equality before the law” that disregards the Crown’s obligations to Māori. This risks dismantling targeted programmes essential for reducing health inequities.
- Impact on the ME/CFS Community: With over 65,000 New Zealanders living with ME/CFS, ANZMES highlights how the Bill’s rigid economic framing would entrench the existing exclusion from disability supports, reduce funding for biomedical research, and block future policy progress.
- Increased Bureaucratic Burden: For individuals with chronic illnesses like ME/CFS—many of whom experience cognitive and physical crashes following exertion—the Bill’s additional regulatory requirements would impose impossible barriers to engagement and justice.
- Post-Viral Illness and Long COVID: With ME/CFS often triggered by viral infections, the Bill’s chilling effect on public health interventions could fuel a rise in disabling post-viral conditions and increase long-term health costs to the nation.
ANZMES calls for the complete rejection of the Regulatory Standards Bill, asserting that New Zealand needs compassionate, evidence-based regulation—not a framework that puts profits over people.
“This Bill won’t fix the system—it will freeze it in dysfunction,” said Charlton. “We need legislation that protects and uplifts our most vulnerable, not policies that entrench neglect.”
Ends.
For media inquiries, please contact, Angela Cayford:
info@anzmes.org.nz | 03 471 6203