This Government bill repeals and replaces the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002. It keeps New Zealand's existing all-hazards philosophy and the end-to-end '4 Rs' risk approach — reduction, readiness, response and recovery — while strengthening the role of communities and iwi Māori and setting clearer responsibilities at national, regional and local levels. It gives effect to the Government's response to the Government Inquiry into the Response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. The bill is before Parliament; its second reading was agreed on 30 June 2026.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (first reading, second reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
A Government bill that rewrites New Zealand's core emergency-management law, replacing the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002. It keeps the existing "all-hazards" approach and the "4 Rs" — reduction, readiness, response and recovery — but sets clearer duties for central government, regions and councils, and strengthens the role of communities and iwi Māori in a crisis. It responds to problems identified after the 2023 North Island floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
It gives effect to the Government Inquiry into the response to the 2023 North Island Severe Weather Events (Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary floods), which found gaps in coordination. In practice it spells out who is responsible at national, regional and local levels and builds in a stronger role for iwi and community groups. Supporters say it modernises a system exposed by Gabrielle; some submitters caution that outcomes also depend on funding and local capacity, not law alone.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.