The pervasive impact of regulation on society, coupled with regulatory failures often attributed to the performance of regulators, calls for the professionalisation of regulation as a practice, vocation, and discipline. To this end, governments and non-governmental organisations around the world have begun to explore pathways to build out the regulatory profession.

This special issue of Policy Quarterly has five articles on aspects of government regulation in New Zealand, five articles on various topical policy issues from a range of (mostly academic) contributors, and three articles based on student research internships.

Several decisions have been taken over the past few months that aim to professionalise the regulatory community in New Zealand.

Regulatory coherence has over the past four years become a term of art for domestic regulatory systems which interface seamlessly with the systems of other countries. And yet a precise or at least agreed definition remains elusive and descriptions often confuse ends and means. This article sets out to provide greater clarity, and in doing...

Emphasising more effective law rather than more law, this paper provides a perspective from within government that argues for a better appreciation of what is required to ensure that regulation is effective in a New Zealand context.