Special Report
The new Health and Safety rules around public access to farms are “very sensible” said Evan White, president Marlborough Federated Farmers in his monthly report to the April meeting.
“Given that permission from farmers is a must, it’s clarified an issue that has frustrated the outdoor recreational public and perplexed farmers,” he said.
Evans White’s comments were in response to government changes to the Health and Safety at Work Act that clarifies the law for landowners and will free up private and public land for recreational use.
“Landowners will not be responsible if someone is injured on their land while doing recreational activities,” said Workplace Relations and Safety Minister and ACT MP Brooke van Velden. “This reform refocuses the work health and safety system by getting rid of over compliance, making sure there’s less paperwork and giving businesses, employers and workers clarity on their health and safety responsibilities.”
She said for many New Zealanders, outdoor recreational activities are a way of life that has been enjoyed for generations. Unfortunately, New Zealand’s work health and safety settings had impaired these activities, inadvertently creating a culture of fear amongst landowners who are now worried about their legal liability if someone gets hurt.
“I want Kiwis to be able to hunt, fish, hike, climb, mountain bike, kayak and so much more without being caught up in health and safety red tape,” added Brooke van Velden.
Move Welcomed
Outdoor recreation groups welcomed the government moves to cut red tape around access to the outdoors.
President of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers Casey Cravens of Dunedin said Minister Brooke van Velden should be congratulated on reforming a problem created by bureaucratic red tape.
“Access is a vital part of the egalitarian nature of the outdoors and the public ownership of fish and game,” he said. “Nevertheless anglers should still endeavour to seek permission.”
Laurie Collins of Westport, convenor of the Sporting Hunters’ Outdoor Trust, said farmers had genuine concern over the potential for liability under the previous “red tape”.
“The move by government is a blow for commonsense,” he said. ‘“Of course permission must be sought by any member of the public to go onto private farm land. In the case of hunters not getting permission, that makes them poachers and poachers should be dealt with severely by courts.”
He said the move restores the fundamental of self-responsibility by outdoor users.
The New Zealand Deerstalkers Association (NZDA) said the significant change announcement is a significant change signalling a win for hunters, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts across New Zealand.
Shut Gates
“For too long, vague rules and landowner fears have shut gates. NZDA sees this as a return to practical, common-sense law-making that supports positive outcomes for all New Zealanders. For too long, overly cautious health and safety settings have stifled access to recreational land. The announcement lifts that burden and restores balance.”
Gwyn Thurlow CEO of NZDA said landowners should not “cop flak” for natural hazards or hunting risks.
“This reform puts responsibility back on us—where it belongs—and frees up farmers, forestry blocks, and land managers to say yes to access. That’s the Kiwi way,” he said.
Council of Outdoor Recreation Association’s of New Zealand Andi Cockroft also welcomed the reform.
“It’s a win for commonsense, a practical approach and for the public’s outdoor estate and traditions,” he said.
The change will apply to both public and private land, from farms and forestry to school grounds, local council land and regional and national parks.
The change will not impact private property rights and it will still be up to the landowner to grant access to their land if they wish said Brooke van Velden.
Health and Safety is a bureaucracy obsessed with itself and creating meaningless rules to justify and continue its existence – and jobs and salaries. Well done Minister van Velden for your reforms and erasing a problem whgich should never have been there in the first place.
The outdoors is by the egalitarian nature of society, public property. Farmers were justifiably apprehensive at times because of absurd health and safety rules.
You can still see Health and Safety influence in the rode cones debacle.
Hmm, I’ll a little cynical with this one, yes it is a good move and Brooke needs a pat on the back for it but the pattern has now been set to lock us out and with so much of the high amenity value land being owned by foreigners who have a very different view to our egalitarian ones re public access, I suspect not much will change. All that and some land owners will continue to offer exclusive access to a few to what are public resources. Money talks.
I was truly shocked to learn a few years ago, from a Dutchman on the Board of a company I then worked for .. that only 3 countries in the world have gone quite as extreme on health and safety, as we have here in New Zealand.
“I thought we were just catching up with the rest of the world” I remarked, incredulously.
“No”, he said. “It’s only the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. In the rest of the world, the need for health and safety bureaucracy is better balanced against the greater good for society.”
This was news to me, and I was dumbfounded. Still am.
We wonder why New Zealand is behind amongst OECD countries, in our productivity rates .. but this is part of the answer, right there.
Somebody got hurt once .. which is terrible. But people have been getting hurt doing stuff since the beginning of time.
Strangely, more people get hurt and killed doing more dangerous stuff.
Whoever would have thought!
And the main reason why so many people are recorded as getting hurt in New Zealand .. is because our ACC system collects such good statistics. (New Zealanders being so well incentivised to report injuries, especially those that are self-inflicted. Most of these are simply not recorded, in most of the rest of the world.)
Consider the impact of our excessive bureaucracy, in this space.
It effectively slows our whole country down.
Hence, the impact on productivity.
And it does not yield the improvement in injuries and deaths that you would think, that would make it all worthwhile.
The biggest way to improve rates of injury or deaths is neither through bureaucracy, nor enforcement.
It is by targeting personal responsibility. Attitudes. Which boils down to education.
Individuals need to Stop .. Think .. then Act.
But only if it is safe to do so.
People generally get injured or killed when they break pre-existing rules .. including those of common sense.
No shit, Sherlock.
So .. it is good to see a little bit of common sense returning to the situation.