Statutes Amendment Bill
This bill makes small technical fixes to 42 different New Zealand laws all at once. It corrects outdated wording, fixes cross-references that pointed to the wrong sections, and updates names of government bodies that have changed. For example, it updates rules about how oaths can be taken online using video calls, clarifies privacy complaint time limits, removes sexist and outdated language from older laws, and updates Air Force job titles from 'airman' to 'aviator'. None of these changes are meant to be controversial — all political parties agreed to include them.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.
Outdated and offensive terms in criminal laws are replaced with neutral modern language.
replace 'Sexual intercourse with severely subnormal woman or girl' with 'Sexual intercourse with certain persons'
replace 'defiling idiot or imbecile woman or girl' with 'defiling certain persons'
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Governance and Administration Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 3 December 2024.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.