bill21 April 2026 Non-partisan · AI-drafted, editor-reviewed

Crown Land Legislation Amendment Bill

Member in charge: Mike Butterick
In short: Arapono’s summary

This bill changes the rules for Crown pastoral land — land the government owns and leases to farmers, mostly in the South Island. It lets farmers do extra activities on their leased land, like growing grapes, keeping bees, generating renewable energy, or hosting visitors, alongside their normal farming. It also creates a process to sell or release parts of pastoral leases for new purposes if there is a clear public benefit. Some older rules about managing Crown land are also tidied up.

What this affects

Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.

Farmers leasing Crown land can apply to run extra money-making activities like vineyards, beekeeping, or renewable energy alongside their normal farming.

From the bill

Schedule 1AD lists specified activities for which secondary use permits may be granted, including: Arable farming, Viticulture, Horticulture, Apiculture, Aquaculture, Renewable energy generation, Gravel extraction, Processing or sale of products grown or reared on site, Visitor accommodation, hospitality, and other commercial recreation activities.

The single broad policy is to provide targeted changes to the management of Crown land to enable greater economic returns to Crown pastoral leaseholders and the Crown.

Progress through Parliament

Introduced
First Reading
Select committee
Second Reading
Whole House
Third Reading
Royal Assent
Current stage: First Reading

Have your say

Submissions open once a bill reaches the select committee stage and the committee calls for them. In the meantime, you can write to your local MP about it.

View the official bill on legislation.govt.nz

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.