The Deputy Chairperson of the Environment Committee is inviting public submissions on the Environment (Disestablishment of Ministry for the Environment) Amendment Bill.
This bill marks the initial step in the government’s plan to merge functions from four agencies into a new Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT).
The four agencies are the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Ministry of Transport, and the local government functions of the Department of Internal Affairs.
The bill amends the Environment Act 1986 by disestablishing the Ministry for the Environment and transferring its functions to the statutory office of the Secretary for the Environment.
The government has indicated that the chief executive of the new ministry would serve as the Secretary for the Environment.
“The Ministry for the Environment was established by the Environment Act and can only be disestablished by Parliament. The other functions to be included in the new ministry were not created through legislation and therefore do not require similar disestablishment legislation,” the Environment Committee said.
“The government has stated its intention to disestablish these and transfer them to the proposed MCERT by secondary legislation made under the Public Service Act 2020.”
“This bill relates solely to the Ministry for the Environment, and the deputy chairperson is seeking submissions that focus on the transfer of environment-related functions covered by the bill, rather than general comments on the broader machinery of government changes.”
The deadline for public submissions on the bill is 4:30pm on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.