ACT leader David Seymour is calling for a permanent pathway allowing businesses to test emerging technologies without being held back by New Zealand’s existing regulatory system.

Speaking at the Canterbury Club in Christchurch on Thursday afternoon, Seymour said “Innovation Trials” could allow selected regulations to be suspended for a limited period while new technologies and regulatory settings were tested.

His speech came ahead of a public meeting at Majestic Church in Christchurch tonight.

Seymour said New Zealand was falling behind other countries because its regulatory system was failing to keep pace with technological change.

“Increasingly, I fear we are slipping away from the frontier of innovation. A core driver of that is a sluggish and slow system of government that struggles to keep pace with change.”

Seymour said Christchurch represented the resilience and appetite for innovation he wanted to see across the country, highlighting the city’s earthquake rebuild, software and agritech start-ups, and new enclosed stadium.

“Christchurch is a snapshot of that goal. The city is an example of the values of risk-taking, resilience and innovation.”

He said regulatory barriers were preventing New Zealanders from using technology already available overseas, including driverless vehicles and large agricultural drones.

Seymour described Innovation Trials as time-limited programmes in which certain regulations could be suspended or alternative regulatory settings tested.

“In effect, we would empower a Government Minister to strike down specific regulations for a specific amount of time. If, say, someone wanted to do a trial of driverless cars in Christchurch, they could go to the Government and it could grant a sandbox where specific rules were set aside for a specific period in a specific region.”

He said the Ministry for Regulation had developed a blueprint that could make such trials a standard response when existing rules prevented innovation.

Agricultural spray drones were cited as an example of technology being held back by New Zealand’s regulatory system.

Seymour said drones weighing more than 25 kilograms required Part 102 certification, a process he said could cost up to $2,000 and take more than 12 months.

“That drone cannot be used on a New Zealand farm today. Not because it’s dangerous, but because it weighs more than 25 kilograms. Under our current aviation rules, anything above that threshold requires a Part 102 certification, a process that costs up to $2,000 and takes more than 12 months. In Australia, drones up to 150 kilograms operate on farmland under simple licensing. We’re not talking about a cutting-edge technology New Zealand can’t access. We’re talking about something our competitors are already using, every day, on farms not far from here.”

Seymour said the number of large agricultural spray drones operating in New Zealand had doubled from 80 to 160 during the past year.

He said the Ministry for Regulation had identified agricultural drones as a candidate for an Innovation Trial, but the Civil Aviation Authority had placed the issue on a two-year work programme.

“Two years. For something we already know works, that our competitors already do, that our own officials agree poses manageable risks. That is exactly the gap this framework is designed to close.”

Seymour said the same approach could be applied to autonomous vehicles, medical research, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, digital finance, precision agriculture and cell-cultivated food.

He said New Zealand could attract international companies by offering a clear and predictable environment in which to test new technology.

“We could offer them something no other country could: a clear framework, a guaranteed timeline, and a government that will get out of the way and let them prove what their technology can do. We need to stop hoping they choose New Zealand, and go and get them.”

Seymour said ACT wanted Innovation Trials to become a published and permanent pathway available to companies in New Zealand and overseas.

“ACT’s commitment is this: we will make Innovation Trials a standing offer: not a favour a Minister grants when someone complains loudly enough, but a published, permanent pathway that any company, anywhere in the world, can apply to. A front door for innovation, not a back door.”