Chris Bishop
Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro

The government has announced a mega ministry which will take on the work of housing, transport, and local government functions.

The new Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT) will bring together the ministries of environment, transport, housing and urban development and the local government functions of Internal Affairs.

Housing, Transport, RMA Reform and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said currently much of the government’s reform work spanned multiple agencies.

“For example, solving our housing crisis is impossible without fundamental planning reform, which is currently the responsibility of the Ministry for the Environment (which looks after city, district and regional plans).

“It is also impossible without reforms to infrastructure funding and financing (currently split across HUD, DIA and Transport).”

Bishop said the current system was too fragmented and uncoordinated.

“New Zealand is very well served by outstanding public servants in all of these agencies doing their best to serve ministers and the public in difficult circumstances.

“My experience is that they are often as frustrated as ministers are by the duplication, overlapping responsibilities and lack of coordination.”

Bishop told Midday Report that the public service was currently not geared up to tackle challenges such as housing affordability, infrastructure deficit and adaptation to climate change.

“All of these agencies essentially operate in silos where as in reality all of their interactions have something to do with each other,” he said.

For example to sort out housing issues, you needed to work across multiple agencies, not just with the Ministry of Housing, he said.

The Ministry for the Environment looked after city and district plans and the planning system, housing was also connected to transport which was an entirely separate ministry, he said.

Climate change touched “everything from housing to transport, how we build more resilient infrastructure for example” and although it was currently dealt with by the Ministry for the Environment it impacted a range of portfolio areas, he said.

Asked how such a large ministry would ensure that issues did not get ignored, Bishop said it would be an operational issue which would be over to the agency’s new chief executive who would be hired in the new year.

“But what we want is much more integrated advice.”

Bishop said job losses were not driving the change but “clearly we will be looking for back office efficiencies” as the agencies are merged.

Public Services Minister Judith Collins said the new ministry would deliver the best results for taxpayers.

“We are investing to ensure its success and while it is not intended as a cost-cutting exercise, we do expect to see efficiencies in the medium to long term.”

ACT Leader David Seymour said the ministry merger was a taste of what the government should be doing all day long.

“In May I spoke to the Tauranga Business Chamber, saying ‘We currently have 82 ministerial portfolios… held by 28 ministers. And under them, we have 41 separate government departments…’ These comments were dismissed at the time, but they have become real.

“Ireland, a country with the same-sized population as New Zealand has 16 ministries. Today’s merger is a step in the right direction, but there is more to do. A smaller, more efficient Government would have 20 ministers, and no more than 30 ministries.

Seymour said under the ACT Party’s proposal which would be taken to the election, no minister would have more than two departments, and no department would have more than one minister.

A chief executive will be appointed in the first half of 2026, with the MCERT fully operational by July.

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