One year on: Keeping track of small business promises

The Government is making good on its promise to cut red tape but BusinessNZ says further action is urgently needed, following a new report on reducing compliance costs for small businesses.

BusinessNZ Chief Executive Katherine Rich says extensive consultation between the BusinessNZ Network, Government and small businesses in 2024 led to a list of policy actions to pursue for each sector.

One year on, BusinessNZ has published its Progress Report - tracking where the Government has cut red tape and identifying areas requiring urgent attention.

"Overall, we’ve seen genuine engagement and positive steps toward reducing the burden on small and medium-sized businesses, which make up 97 percent of all businesses in New Zealand," Rich says.

"Because they represent the vast majority of our economy, it’s important that the BusinessNZ Network keeps constructive pressure on the Government to deliver on the compliance cost issues raised last year."

Rich points to the barbering and hairdressing sector as a model example, where feedback in BusinessNZ’s 2024 report led to the removal of outdated and overly prescriptive regulations, allowing business owners to get on with their work.

"The Ministry for Regulation’s engagement with businesses, councils, and industry bodies was thorough and resulted in a commonsense solution that still protects public health while removing inconsistent regulation.

"Other areas showing positive progress include procurement, anti-money laundering obligations, and duplication of data requirements."

Rich says BusinessNZ wants to see a similar approach applied across all sectors and particularly in areas where little has changed in a year such as forklift licensing, where in-house competency assessment should be an option.

"It’s one of several compliance burdens where there’s been little to no visible progress so far. One year on, we should be seeing meaningful change in every sector," Rich says.

"BusinessNZ will continue to keep these issues front of mind for Ministers to ensure progress continues - so New Zealand businesses are free to focus on growing their business and the economy."

The full progress report is out today and available on the BusinessNZ website.