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Review of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001

Update – 6 June 2019

Changes to legislation announced

Following the review and public consultation, the Government is changing the:

  • Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001 (DIRA)
  • Dairy Industry Restructuring Raw Milk Regulations 2012 (Raw Milk Regulations)

Find out more

Cabinet papers released

The Government has released Cabinet and other papers related to the decision.

Submissions released

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has released the submissions received during the consultation.

Report commissioned

MPI also commissioned a report from Frontier Economics to help inform on the proposed changes.

Next steps

Cabinet has agreed to the amendments to DIRA and the Raw Milk Regulations. These will be progressed as a package through Parliament.

The public will have a further chance to give feedback on the changes to DIRA and the Raw Milk Regulations during the Select Committee process.

DIRA review consultation process

The Government reviewed the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001 (DIRA) and its impact on the dairy industry.

Following the release of the Government's terms of reference for the review, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) engaged with a range of industry stakeholders to help develop a preliminary analysis of issues and options for potential legislative changes. We also commissioned 2 reports from an independent economic consultancy, Frontier Economics, on the performance of the New Zealand dairy industry.

On 2 November 2018, consultation started on the issues and options outlined in the DIRA discussion document. 

This was to help us:

  • test our current understanding and analysis of issues and options
  • get input on costs, benefits, and other impacts of the potential legislative changes to make sure they deliver the right outcomes.  

Consultation on the discussion document ran from 2 November 2018 and closed on 8 February 2019.

Public meetings were also held throughout the country during the consultation.

DIRA discussion document

Find out more

Submissions are public information

Note, that any submission you make becomes public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the information available unless there is a good reason for withholding it. You can find those grounds in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in your submission (such as commercial sensitivity or personal information). MPI will take such indications into account when determining whether or not to release the information. Any decision MPI makes to withhold information can, however, be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may require the information be released.

MPI may post all or parts of any written submission on its website. Unless clearly stated otherwise in your submission, MPI will consider that you have consented to its publication.

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