Earlier this month parliament passed the Maritime Transport (Lifejackets on Recreational Craft) Amendment Act 2026. This specifies that a person in charge of a recreational craft of 6 metres or less in length must ensure that each person on board is wearing a lifejacket of an appropriate size while the craft is underway (except in specific circumstances). The law was passed with the support of all parties in parliament, amending both the Maritime Transport Act and the relevant Maritime Rules.

In the early part of this century I worked for the Ministry of Transport and it was one of my tasks to enable the Minister of Transport to enact such a rule, which Maritime New Zealand had been working on for a long time. However, at that time this was not possible. For various reasons the government led by Helen Clark had been labeled a “nanny-state” government. Therefore, it did not want to be seen to impose more rules on people. The government led by John Key considered passing similar rules. While the Minister and Cabinet considered that there was good evidence for requiring people to wear lifejackets on small boats, it would not be politically feasible, since they had campaigned hard against the nanny state. Instead, that government allowed regional councils to make rules that would have a similar outcome.

The most recent effort was a member’s bill by National MPs and initially focused on lifejackets for children and young persons. But after reviewing the data, the select committee came to the conclusion that the demographic most at risk were older men who thought “she’ll be right”. As a result, the scope was changed to include people of all ages.

To me it shows how politics can change across the years and something that was considered a hot political issue later on is considered quite normal. It also shows how one issue can be affected by considerations that have little to do with it. This happens quite often in society.

But it can also happen in Churches. Some of the issues that were hotly debated previously now are hardly controversial. Others suddenly become contentious only because they are vaguely linked with something that has become topical. Sometimes it may be best to let some time pass and see how things turn out.