ACT MP Mark Cameron wants to remove the requirement for banks to submit climate disclosures. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
The ACT Party has joined the war on "woke" banks with a member's bill to repeal legislation which requires banks and other financial institutions to submit climate disclosures.
It could be set to join New Zealand First on the order paper in having a member's bill aimed at preventing banks from denying services, with New Zealand First's bill drawn from the ballot in February.
In 2021, New Zealand was the first country in the world to pass legislation requiring big companies to reveal how much risk climate change posed to their bottom lines.
ACT was the only party to oppose it at the time, saying it would be onerous and incur significant costs.
MP Mark Cameron has now drafted a bill which he says will bring banks "back to basics" and repair what he said was a "strained" relationship between banks and farmers.
"I'm trying to create an environment where we can restore some emboldened economic activity back into rural New Zealand, and help the banking industry by removing this mandatory climate disclosure framework that is currently so onerous for them all to operate under," he told RNZ.
"I think it's a win-win for the industry of the banks, and a win-win for the people they serve."
Cameron, the party's rural communities spokesperson, said farmers and other rural New Zealanders had told him the legislation had created a "distrust" in rural New Zealand, where farmers were concerned they were being subjected to higher interest rates, or were afraid they would be debanked.
"Why is it so hard to get a decent interest rate? What on earth are banks doing with this mandatory climate disclosure stuff? And, at the end of the day, whatever happened to the relationship we had between a farmer and a bank manager?
"Now we've got social engineering going on in our backyard."
Recent disclosures from major banks showed banks were reducing their lending to the fossil fuel industry, and BNZ recently announced it would withdraw lending services from the sector on a case-by-case basis.
The BNZ decision had drawn the ire of New Zealand First MP Shane Jones and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, though Cameron said ACT had long held opposition to the disclosure reporting.
He said the bill was not about politicians interfering with financial enterprise, and banks would still be free to report voluntarily if they wished.
Decisions, he said, would be based on market forces rather than having it "forced" upon them.
"If we can create a legal environment so that businesses can operate with what would otherwise be business discretion, that's the intended purpose of this bill. If banks still chose to do that, that's one thing. But the fact that it's mandatory is totally another thing, and having it removed I think would create an environment where the banks have choice."
The bill is not government policy, and will only be debated if it is drawn from the ballot at random.
Cameron, however, has written to Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson to encourage him to adopt the proposal as a government bill.
He was optimistic Simpson, who has recently taken on the portfolio following Andrew Bayly's resignation, would see the merits of the bill in creating economic activity.
"I think this is one way, or many ways, that we should investigate, creating an environment that would embolden, bolster, whatever words you want to use in this instance, the primary sector in terms of its relationship with lenders. I think it's a good thing, I'm fairly optimistic that he will engage with the process," Cameron said.
In February, New Zealand First MP Andy Foster submitted a bill which would have removed the Environmental, Social, and Governance framework from the Financial Markets Act.
It would mean any withdrawal of banking services would need to be made on a purely commercial basis, or banks face fines of up to half a million dollars.
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