By Bryce Wilkinson

Last night, I found myself standing at St Peter’s Church for the “Red Tape Hui,” not to confess my economic sins, but to proselytise about the virtues of the prospective Regulatory Standards Bill.

The event, hosted by Labour’s Greg O’Connor, MP for Ōhāriu and Assistant Speaker of the House, featured a panel including Dr Bryce Edwards from The Integrity Institute and Craig Renney from the Council of Trade Unions.

I expected to be the only one likely to speak out to support the Bill. But being a lone advocate in what felt like missionary territory gave me an idea.

Suspecting I would be surrounded by those who view the Bill as “evil neoliberalism,” I decided to follow in the footsteps of a rather accomplished ancient orator.

The Apostle Paul, encountering an altar “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD” in Athens, cleverly appropriated the Athenians’ own cultural framework to introduce his message (Acts 17:22-31). So, why not borrow this strategy?

After all, if regulatory reform aligned with divine intervention, The Bible would tell us so.

And lo, The Bible, it appears, is absolutely teeming with regulatory wisdom.

King Ahab’s property acquisition strategy with Naboth (1 Kings 21) was clearly a cautionary tale about inadequate regulatory standards. Even King David’s accountability to the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12) screamed of the need for a Regulatory Standards Board.

It was quite the theological tightrope. Every criticism of the Bill seems to have a biblical rebuttal.

Worried about chilling effects on future governments? Consider Ecclesiastes 1:9 (”What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun”).

Troubled by fiscal costs? Jesus himself advised “counting the cost” before building towers (Luke 14:28-30), which is practically a biblical mandate for cost-benefit analysis.

Of course, my critics might suggest that finding regulatory principles in ancient texts is rather like discovering that the Book of Revelation is actually about modern accounting standards.

But as I stood there, quoting chapter and verse in defence of regulatory transparency, I felt a certain kinship with St Paul – albeit defending a rather different kind of gospel.

Whether my audience at St Peter’s was converted to the cause of regulatory reform remains to be seen. But should the Bill pass, I shall consider it nothing short of a miracle.

After all, turning water into wine seems only marginally more challenging than turning biblical wisdom into regulatory policy.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must return to my study. I believe Deuteronomy may contain some excellent insights on resource management legislation.

Originally published on The New Zealand Initiative.