New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga Amendment Bill

New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga Amendment Bill EXPLANATORY NOTE GENERAL POLICY STATEMENT This Bill amends the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga Act 2019. The purpose of the Bill is to make 2 changes to the roles and responsibilities of the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga (the Commission ). In addition to its main function, which is “to co-ordinate, develop, and promote an approach to infrastructure that encourages infrastructure, and services that result from the infrastructure, that improve the well-being of New Zealanders”, the Commission currently has 6 additional functions. The first change this Bill makes is to remove the additional function of providing support services to current and proposed infrastructure projects. The reason for the change is that this function was transferred to other Crown infrastructure entities on 1 December 2024 as part of a set of reforms to the Crown infrastructure system. Legislation is required to amend the Commission's additional functions to help avoid any actual or perceived overlap of functions between the Commission and other entities. The second change the Bill makes is to add a new additional function of providing advice in relation to current and proposed infrastructure projects. Together, these changes will focus the advisory role of the Commission. Shifting its role in infrastructure projects from supporting to advisory will allow it to focus on large, complex challenges, at-risk projects, and programme reviews where additional advice is needed by Government. This is more consistent with the Commission's broader mandate. DEPARTMENTAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT The Treasury is required to prepare a disclosure statement to assist with the scrutiny of this Bill. The disclosure statement provides access to information about the policy development of the Bill and identifies any significant or unusual legislative features of the Bill. A copy of the statement can be found at http://legislation.govt.nz/disclosure.aspx?type=bill&subtype=government&year=2025&no=156 CLAUSE BY CLAUSE ANALYSIS Clause 1 is the Title clause. Clause 2 is the commencement clause and provides that the Bill comes into force on the day after Royal assent. Clause 3 provides that the Bill amends the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga Act 2019 (the Act ). Clause 4 repeals the Act’s definition of support services as this definition is no longer required following the amendment made by clause 5 . Clause 5 amends section 10 of the Act by deleting the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga’s function of providing support services to infrastructure projects, and replacing it with a new function of providing advice on infrastructure projects. The Parliament of New Zealand enacts as follows: 1 Title This Act is the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga Amendment Act 2025 . 2 Commencement This Act comes into force on the day after Royal assent. 3 Principal Act This Act amends the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga Act 2019. 4 Section 3 amended (Interpretation) In section 3, repeal the definition of support services . 5 Section 10 amended (Additional functions of Commission) In the heading above section 10(d), replace Support with Project . Replace section 10(f) with: f to provide advice in relation to current and proposed infrastructure projects.