The Government has introduced legislation to set up a new Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT) and wind up the Ministry for the Environment as a standalone agency.

The Environment (Disestablishment of the Ministry for the Environment) Amendment Bill would allow the Ministry for the Environment to be integrated into MCERT alongside the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Ministry of Transport, and the local government functions currently housed in the Department of Internal Affairs.

Ministers say the consolidated department is intended to bring together policy and delivery across housing, transport, urban development and the environment, including work on climate adaptation and the infrastructure shortfall. Because the Ministry for the Environment was created by statute, it is the only agency in the merger that requires legislative change.

Under the bill, MCERT would administer the Environment Act, and its chief executive would serve as the Secretary for the Environment. The Government says this is designed to maintain statutory oversight while shifting the organisational home.

Key timings set out today:

• MCERT to be established from 1 April 2026
• Operational from 1 July 2026
• A chief executive to be appointed in the coming months

The announcement signals a major machinery-of-government change affecting environment, housing, transport and parts of local government. Today’s release does not include detail on staffing numbers, costs, or exactly which Internal Affairs local government functions will move, nor how regulatory roles and relationships with councils will be managed during the transition.

The bill’s passage is required before the Ministry for the Environment can be formally disestablished and folded into MCERT.