Woolly-headed regulations about farm kids feeding small animals, collecting eggs, and watering plants are up for review, but not before two months of chewing the cud. 
 
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is holding a targeted consultation on agricultural health and safety, including whether little Johnny can safely help Mum with light chores on the farm.  
 
Currently, health and safety regulations say no one under 15 should undertake tasks related to preparing goods for sale – rules that, on paper, could make a small egg-collecting chore a $50,000 affair.  
 
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has heard from rural families worried they are unwitting outlaws. She wants to clarify the rules so that light, age-appropriate chores are legally okay. A practical solution to a silly problem. Egg-cellent. 
 
But a two-month consultation?  
 
Contrast that with the pace of change elsewhere. Like sweeping reforms to the Resource Management Act, legislation so complex it could give Kafka a headache, are being pushed through at speed.  
 
And then there is the use of urgency. At the end of May, Newsroom observed that 18 months into its term, the coalition government had passed more bills (24) through Parliament under urgency without a select committee process than any since at least 1987. Bills introduced and passed in less time than it takes to teach a kid to bottle-feed a calf. 
 
This matters because rushed, poor-quality advice and skipping steps increase the risk that legislation is ineffective or unworkable. 
 
There are real issues with health and safety on farms, and the review should focus on sensible rules that reflect genuine risk. But light farm chores? That calls for reflection, stakeholder input, and, presumably, a regulatory impact statement. At what cost to the taxpayer? 
 
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark weighed in on ‘X’: “Does anyone seriously think the Govt should waste its time consulting on whether children can collect eggs laid & feed their pet lambs? I grew up on a farm doing both for years to no ill effect. It’s not April Fool’s Day….” 
 
One must sympathise with the Minister. In a world where HR manuals need a risk assessment for sharing a cheese sandwich, perhaps it really does take her officials eight weeks of walking on eggshells to create a new regulation that will allow a child to water the beans.