Disclosure statements

What are disclosure statements?

Disclosure statements are departmental documents that provide information about the development and content of legislation proposed by the Government. They seek to assist the Parliamentary and public scrutiny of a Bill or Supplementary Order Paper (SOP).

Disclosure statements are published on this website during an administrative trial period. Legislation is being developed to implement the disclosure regime, and the results of the trial will feed into this legislation.

Generally, disclosure statements should identify:

• the policy objectives of the Bill or SOP
• some of the key processes that departments are expected to have followed during the development and testing of the content of the Bill or SOP
• certain significant powers or unusual features in the Bill or SOP that may be of particular Parliamentary or public interest and may warrant further explanation.

Disclosure statements are provided on this website for all government Bills (with limited exceptions) and substantive SOPs introduced or released since 29 July 2013. See the Treasury's guidance Disclosure Statements for Government Legislation: Technical Guide for Departments for more information on which Bills and SOPs require a disclosure statement.

How do I find a disclosure statement?

Find it by using the either the Bills tab or the SOPs tab at the top of this page. Remember that a Bill can be amended via an SOP as it progresses through the House, so check under the SOP tab to find out whether an amended or supplementary version of the original Bill's disclosure statement has been published.

You will also find a link to the disclosure statement from the explanatory note of the related Bill or SOP on the New Zealand Legislation website.

Who provides disclosure statements?

Disclosure statements are prepared by the government department that is responsible for developing the Bill or SOP. Departments are responsible for the content of the statements.

This website is owned and provided by the Parliamentary Counsel Office, whose role is limited to publishing the disclosure statements.

More about disclosure statements

Further information about Cabinet’s disclosure requirements can be found in Cabinet Office Circular CO (13) 3 on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website.

Guidance and templates for department’s preparing a disclosure statement can be found on the Treasury’s website.