This Government bill amends the Social Security Act 2018 and Regulations to enable wider use of automated decision making (ADM) — decisions made within an automated process with no substantial human involvement. The Act currently permits only targeted ADM use. The bill enacts a general authorising provision letting MSD approve an automated system to make decisions, exercise powers or comply with obligations under specified provisions, with safeguards, and applies ADM to mandatory reviews, medical reviews and an 'end of school year review process'. It has since passed into law.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, first reading, second reading, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
This bill amends the Social Security Act 2018, which governs benefits and welfare payments administered by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and Work and Income. Its main change is to authorise MSD to use automated electronic systems — computer-driven decision-making — to make and act on certain benefit decisions, rather than requiring a staff member for every step. The intent is that simple, rules-based decisions, such as straightforward entitlement checks, can be automated, while human judgement is retained for complex or sensitive cases. It affects benefit recipients and MSD staff, and sets safeguards around how automation may be used.
A Government bill framed as modernising welfare administration. Supporters argue automation speeds up decisions, cuts errors and debt, and frees staff to help vulnerable clients rather than doing paperwork. Critics — including Labour and the Greens — argue it hands too much power to machines over people's lives, risks bias and loss of human contact for the most disconnected recipients, and raises transparency and consultation concerns.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.