Dunedin barber Michael Shanks might have been required to gut and fillet his frozen whitebait before they would be allowed into Australia.
Mr Shanks was taking the half a kilo of whitebait to Australia where whitebait patties were to be on the menu for a family Christmas dinner.
But while he had been able to successfully cross the Ditch with the delicacy in the past, after declaring it, this time an Australian Customs official asked him if the whitebait were gutted.
Mr Shanks could have been forgiven for wondering if this was a Christmas cracker joke question, but no, it was deadly serious.
The rule applying now required such fish to have all internal organs removed in case they were harbouring exotic diseases.
And in true bureaucratic speak, an Australian Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry spokeswoman said the feasibility or otherwise of eviscerating or gutting the whitebait was a matter for the importer.
The situation seems to be an unintended consequence of the regulation’s introduction.
In New Zealand in 2015 when health and safety legislation was being considered, the Labour Opposition had a lot of fun around the classification of worm farms as high risk when cattle farming was not.
The risk of negative unintended consequences increases when legislation is rushed, and the new government will need to consider that in its enthusiasm "to get things done".
As part of the coalition deal with Act New Zealand, the Regulatory Standards Act is proposed, designed to improve the quality of regulation, ensuring "regulatory decisions are based on principles of good law-making and economic efficiency".
This is supposed to happen "as soon as practicable".
The associated new ministry for regulation will be required to assess the quality of new and existing legislation and regulation.
It is unclear how that might work when it comes to some of the new government’s pet projects such as the restoration of the controversial three strikes legislation "with amendments to tighten the definition of strike offences and ensure some benefit for pleading guilty".
The previous legislation, repealed in 2022, was widely criticised for being ineffective as a deterrent, resulting in disproportionately harsh sentences which highlighted the high incarceration rates of Māori and Pasifika.
Without knowing the detail of the proposed standards act, how effective the new ministry’s officials might be at identifying unintended consequences, and how good the politicians will be at taking heed of advice, it is hard to tell yet if we have more worm farm-style embarrassment in store.
And another thing
It is always fascinating to see the international coverage of New Zealand events and Saturday’s wedding of former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford was no exception.
The Daily Mail, which was reported to have paparazzi in a helicopter over the wedding venue (a questionable expense given the quality of the photos produced) issued several exclusives about the occasion.
One dubbed it the political wedding of the year, overlooking the fact Dame Jacinda is no longer in politics.
The tabloid also gave more coverage to the views of the gaggle of anti-vax protesters outside the venue than local media.
The New York Times told us that from her earliest appearances on the world stage, fans and watchers of Dame Jacinda, "have time and again returned to the same question: whether and when she and Clarke Gayford" would tie the knot.
Really?
It is more likely some media coverage kept returning to that question.
Despite all the hype and intrigue around the occasion, the couple achieved a reasonable amount of privacy for the ceremony.
The newlyweds sensibly released a selection of official photos on the day and some other basic information to satisfy the curiosity of their many New Zealand and international well-wishers.
