🎧 Coherent podcast with Melanie Nelson
In this episode, Melanie speaks with environmental policy expert and regulatory researcher Marie Doole about the rising threat of regulatory capture—when laws and systems designed to protect the public end up serving powerful interests instead. Marie draws on her independent research and professional experience to explain what regulatory capture looks like in New Zealand, how it spreads across the whole policy cycle, and why it’s more urgent than ever to address.
They discuss:
What regulatory capture is, and why New Zealand’s small size makes it especially vulnerable
How subtle forms of corporate influence can erode public trust, environmental protections, and democratic safeguards
The role of framing strategies that cast regulation as a burden and regulators as villains
How the Regulatory Standards Bill could increase the risk of capture—by privileging vested interests, narrowing who gets to be heard, and undermining environmental and Tiriti-based protections
Whether the RSB is itself an instrument of regulatory capture
What real regulatory stewardship could look like—and why we need independent institutions focused on anti-capture and public interest regulation
This conversation is a critical listen for anyone interested in democracy, environmental protection, te Tiriti o Waitangi, or the creeping influence of corporate power in lawmaking.
Watch the video podcast above. Or listen to the audio here on Substack, or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms (once uploaded).
Resources:
Navigating Murky Waters: characterising capture in environmental regulatory systems (Marie Doole, Theo Stephens, Geoff Bertram)
Drain the Swamp to Save the Swamp: mitigating capture in environmental regulatory systems (Marie Doole, Theo Stephens)
Sector Specific RSB Tool we mentioned: https://tinyurl.com/RSBTool
Linktree with a wide range of historic and contemporary information on the RSB, including submission guides and builders.
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