This omnibus Government bill amends the Building Act 2004, the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 2006 and the Electricity Act 1992 to strengthen occupational licensing across the building and construction sector by making the regimes more consistent in their standards and procedures. Its general policy statement says the central focus is holding licensed professionals to account through complaints and disciplinary processes that are effective, efficient, robust and sustainable, and that this supports the Government's objective of making building easier, faster and cheaper. It also underpins a risk-based consenting approach that reduces building consent authority oversight of certain low-risk work — such as small stand-alone dwellings, including granny flats, and straightforward plumbing or drainlaying — by relying more on the competence and accountability of licensed practitioners. The bill is before Parliament: it passed its first reading on the voices on 18 November 2025 and its second reading on the voices on 30 July 2026.
This omnibus bill amends the Building Act 2004, the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 2006, and the Electricity Act 1992 to strengthen occupational licensing across the building and construction sector, improving the consistency, standards, and procedures of those regimes. It supports a more efficient, risk-based approach to building consents in which licensed professionals can certify lower-risk work, and it sharpens the complaints and disciplinary processes that hold licensed tradespeople to account.
Supporters argue that letting trusted, licensed professionals self-certify low-risk work makes building faster and cheaper while stronger disciplinary mechanisms protect quality and consumers. Others may weigh whether shifting more responsibility onto individual licensees, and away from council inspection, maintains adequate oversight and consumer protection if defective work occurs.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.