The Wildlife Act 1953 (the Act) is the principal means by which wildlife is protected in New Zealand. The Act provides for the management of New Zealand’s land, freshwater, and marine species. It regulates many human interactions with wildlife species. The Act absolutely protects most native birds, all native reptiles, frogs, and bats, some specified native land and marine invertebrates, and 9 marine fish species. Without proper authorisation, the species cannot be lawfully taken or killed.

One of the principal purposes of the Act is the protection of wildlife. This Bill provides that authorisations to kill wildlife may be granted by the Director-General of Conservation (the Director-General), consistently with this protective purpose, where the overall effect of granting the authority will be protective of wildlife. The objective of this Bill is to enable the Department of Conservation to regulate the incidental killing of wildlife that inevitably occurs during the carrying out of otherwise lawful activities. While undesired, the incidental killing of some individual wildlife is often unavoidable when undertaking many activities.

The Bill responds to legal uncertainty regarding the scope of section 53 of the Act, which provides a power to lawfully authorise the taking or killing of wildlife for certain purposes. This provision was considered by the High Court in Environmental Law Initiative v The Director-General of the Department of Conservation and others [2025] NZHC 391. In that case, the court determined that, under the current law, there must be a direct nexus between killing and protecting wildlife. The effect of the judgment was to significantly limit the Department’s ability to regulate incidental harm to wildlife. It also left the status of existing authorisations uncertain, leaving existing authorisation holders unclear about how they could continue to undertake their activities lawfully.

The High Court also determined that section 71 of the Act is the appropriate authorisation power for acts in respect of protected wildlife performed under an Act specified in Schedule 9 of the Act, rather than section 53, and that, where section 71 applies, an authority under section 53 is not a valid substitute for consent under section 71. The Director-General had granted several authorisations under section 53 in circumstances in which section 71 was applicable.

The Bill restores the regulatory approach that had been taken by the Department before the judgment. The Bill enables the Director-General to continue to authorise the killing of wildlife that occurs incidentally to an otherwise lawful activity, where the overall effect of the authorisation, including its conditions, will protect wildlife. The Bill also clarifies that neither the lawful activity itself nor each individual act of killing needs to be consistent with wildlife protection. The Bill ensures that activities, such as development and infrastructure projects, and conservation work, such as pest control, do not cause permanent harm to the viability of protected species.

The Bill—

• enables the Director-General to grant an authority under section 53 of the Act that authorises killing of wildlife that is incidental to carrying out an otherwise lawful activity; and

• provides that, in making decisions to authorise incidental killing, the Director-General is to be satisfied—

  • that the overall effect of the authority would be consistent with protection of populations of wildlife and protection of individual wildlife; and

  • that the holder of the authority will take reasonable steps to avoid, minimise, and mitigate any adverse effects of the lawful activity on individual wildlife; and

• provides that, in making decisions to authorise incidental killing, the Director-General is to have regard to—

  • any potential adverse effects of the lawful activity on the survival of populations of wildlife and the viability of the species to which that wildlife belongs; and

  • the extent to which the authority addresses those effects; and

  • any other matter that the Director-General considers is relevant.

The Bill validates existing authorities to kill wildlife granted under section 53, and excludes authorities granted under section 53 from legal challenge on the ground that consent is required under section 71 rather than authorisation under section 53. The validation set out is limited in nature and will not affect the ability to challenge a section 53 decision on any basis other than in relation to the matters addressed in this legislative amendment.

The Department of Conservation is required to prepare a disclosure statement to assist with the scrutiny of this Bill. The disclosure statement provides access to information about the policy development of the Bill and identifies any significant or unusual legislative features of the Bill.

A copy of the statement can be found at http://legislation.govt.nz/disclosure.aspx?type=bill&subtype=government&year=2025&no=146