The minister who (might) save Christmas (parades)

Brooke van Velden is reviewing health and safety regulation. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Scientists reckon Santa’s sleigh clocks an impressive 4,705,882km/h on his 160-million-kilometre Christmas Eve odyssey to deliver presents to the world’s children.

It’s assumed at that speed, Santa’s sense of self-preservation would encourage the wearing of a seat belt - that is, if his sleigh is not equipped with another kind of magical safety apparatus.

However, it’s not so much self-preservation as pesky regulation that has forced Santa and his elves to buckle up the comparatively sedentary 5km/h crawl when he visits Christchurch’s annual Santa Parade.

The Herald reported last month that Christchurch’s Christmas Show Parade had installed seat belts on some floats, including the float for Santa and his elves. This was despite the show’s director Jason Reekers telling the Herald there was an “extremely low” safety risk and that no one had fallen off a float in the 75 years the parade has been running.

Christchurch City councillor Aaron Keown said the move was over the top, describing it as “woke nonsense”. He feared health and safety regulations might become so costly that future parades would be cancelled.

Help may be on the way, however.

In November, the new Ministry for Regulation launched a “red tape tipline”. Members of the public could call the tipline to complain about frustrating regulation they wanted the ministry to investigate. If the ministry thinks there is a legitimate problem, it can work with government agencies to fix it. For regulations that are embedded in legislation, the ministry can recommend a change.

The tipline received over 300 complaints in its first week. The Herald reckoned at least one of them would have related to seat belts at Santa parades.

An inquiry with Seymour’s office confirmed that yes, a complaint regarding seat belts at Christchurch’s Christmas parade had been received.

Regulation Minister David Seymour's new ministry is looking into complaints of bad regulation. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Ministry for Regulation might not actually be involved in the fix, however, as another Act minister, Brooke van Velden, is already reforming health and safety law that led to the seatbelt issue.

Regulation Minister David Seymour explained that the “problem with health and safety rules and with WorkSafe is that once planners and employers have a risk brought to their attention, they will be liable if they can’t show they have attempted to mitigate it”.

He said the case of seat belts at Santa parades showed just how this rule could lead to absurd outcomes.

“In this case the risk identified, and the result of mitigation, was quite absurd. Particularly when passengers on buses, which go a lot faster than parade floats, are not required to wear seat belts,” Seymour said.

“I have spoken with Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden, who has confirmed this is exactly the sort of absurdity that will be fixed by her Health and Safety reform work,” he said.

Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.