How should New Zealand manage emergencies?
The ways New Zealand prepares for and responds to emergencies is set to change. Here’s your opportunity to shape the change for our disability community.
May 8th, 2025
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) wants to hear your thoughts on a proposed new Emergency Management Bill - this is the law that decides the ways New Zealand deals with emergencies locally, regionally, and nationally.
NEMA is the Government agency that leads emergency management. During emergencies like earthquakes, floods, pandemics, and infrastructure failures, NEMA works with central and local government, communities, iwi, and businesses to coordinate a response.
What is being consulted on and what does it mean to our disabled community?
The Government has proposed five objectives for the new Bill:
Strengthening community and iwi Māori participation
Having clear responsibilities and accountabilities at the national, regional, and local levels
Enabling a higher minimum standard of emergency management, e.g. stronger national direction, and considering taonga Māori, other cultural heritage, and animals during emergencies.
Minimising disruption to essential services
Having the right powers available when an emergency happens, e.g. safely managing access to closed roads and restricted areas, and making it clear who declares a local state of emergency.
Within these objectives, the government has identified 16 issues and options for addressing them. You can read about all of them here, but a key issue relevant to our disabled community is ‘meeting the diverse needs of people and communities’.
New Zealand’s emergency management system relies on most people being able to look after themselves in an emergency, which is not always possible. Some people have pre-existing vulnerabilities and different needs that can’t be met through a one size fits all approach.
It's important to have your say to ensure that disabled people are properly considered in emergency management processes – right from the planning and preparing for emergencies to responding and recovering from them.
Why is a new Emergency Management Bill necessary?
You might remember we had three serious weather events in the North Island in early 2023. There was Cyclone Hale, the Auckland Anniversary floods, and Cyclone Gabrielle. Our Government looked into how well we handled those disasters and if we could have done any better if our current emergency management had been more prepared. As you might know they found that many communities and emergency management agencies were not adequately prepared. They discovered the communication and warnings were not sufficient, and that the facilities used during the emergencies were not fit for purpose. This last one was seen to particularly impact our disability community.
How New Zealand communities prepare for, deal with, and recover from emergencies is determined by a piece of legislation (or law) called the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2022. However, as you can see, it’s clear that our country’s emergency management system needs a revamp to meet the needs of all New Zealanders.
The aim of the new bill is to ensure there is a whole-of-society approach to emergency management, where communities can act alongside the ‘official’ emergency system. This means having an emergency management system which has a good understanding of the diverse needs of communities, including our disabled community.
How to make your voice heard
Firstly, you can read more about the Emergency Management Bill here.
There are three ways you can make a submission:
Make a submission online here.
Post your feedback to
Policy Unit
National Emergency Management Agency
PO Box 5010
Wellington 6140
If you plan to email or post your submission, please use this template.
Submissions close 5pm, 20 May 2025.
Submissions will be used by NEMA to develop policy and provide advice to ministers.
There will be a lot of conversation to come around how best to address concerns and support changes after the consultation period closes. Our Government says you can expect the new Emergency Management legislation to be in place late this year.