Latest news with #RMAReform
RNZ News
18 hours ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Oral Questions for 3 June 2025
Questions to Ministers CHLÖE SWARBRICK to the Prime Minister: E tautoko ana ia i nga korero me nga mahi katoa a tona Kawanatanga? Does he stand by all of his Government's statements and actions? Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by all his Government's statements and actions? LAURA McCLURE to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: What recent announcements has she made about reforming WorkSafe? NANCY LU to the Minister of Finance: What recent announcements has she made about business tax? Hon BARBARA EDMONDS to the Minister of Finance: Does she stand by her statement about the Budget that "Wages are forecast to grow faster than the inflation rate, making wage earners better off, on average, in real terms"; if so, what is the effect on wage growth over the forecast period of removing the $12.8 billion from future pay equity claims? Dr VANESSA WEENINK to the Minister responsible for RMA Reform: What announcements has he made on reforming national direction under the Resource Management Act 1991? TANYA UNKOVICH to the Minister for Resources: What announcements has he made regarding energy security in New Zealand? Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by his statement in relation to emergency department wait times, "I expect Health New Zealand to empower clinicians at local levels to fix bottlenecks in real time"; if so, is he confident this has occurred ahead of winter 2025? Dr HAMISH CAMPBELL to the Minister of Education: What announcements has she made regarding learning support as part of Budget 2025? Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON to the Prime Minister: E tautoko ana ia i nga korero me nga mahi katoa a tona Kawanatanga? Does he stand by all of his Government's statements and actions? Hon JAN TINETTI to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety: Does she stand by her proposed changes to WorkSafe; if so, why? PAULO GARCIA to the Associate Minister of Housing: What recent announcements has he made about social housing tenancies? Question to Member Hon Dr DUNCAN WEBB to the Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee: Why did he respond to the referral by the House to the Finance and Expenditure Committee of the Regulatory Standards Bill with a six-month reporting deadline by issuing a call for submissions with a four-week deadline? To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Councils plead for bipartisan Resource Management Act reform
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown announce extensions for ports' permits at a press conference in Auckland's Parnell. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi Regional councils want greater certainty and bipartisanship on regulations, as they gear up for an expected spate of rule changes when legislation replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA) next year . The government has announced sweeping changes to the rules governing councils' oversight of everything - from housing, to mining, to agriculture - under the RMA, and these have been released for public feedback. Speaking on behalf of Te Uru Kahika - Regional and Unitary Councils of Aotearoa, Greater Wellington chair Daran Ponter said when policy resets every three years, regulators scramble to deliver the new government's national direction. "As regional councils we have effectively seen these national instruments landing on our lap as regularly as every three years. The music just has to stop. "We need certainty, we need to be able to have the chance as regulators to actually bed in policies and rules and provide a greater certainty to people who want to do things - who want to build, who want to farm, who want to mine - because the bigger block on those things at the moment, at national and regional levels, is that we continue to change the rules." Ponter said bipartisanship on regulations was needed to provide certainty. "I don't want to be in the position in three or six years' time that all the rules are going to change again, because the pendulum has swung the other way." Daran Ponter. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas Ponter said in recent years there had been "more radical swings" in policy under successive governments. "At the moment, the meat in the sandwich of all this, is the regional councils, who get accused of not doing this, or being woke, of being overly sympathetic to the environment... when all we are doing is following the national guidance that is put in front of us." The government has released three discussion documents covering 12 national policy statements and and national environmental standards, with the aim of having 16 new or updated ones by the end of 2025, ahead of legislation replacing the RMA next year. The consultation covers three main topics: infrastructure and development, the primary sector and freshwater. It is open from 29 May to 27 July. Doug Leeder, chair of Bay of Plenty Regional Council, has governed through the implementation of four National Policy Statements for Freshwater Management. He said implementing national direction was a major undertaking that involved work with communities, industry and mana whenua. "Councils contend with the challenge also faced by iwi and hapū, industry, and communities that the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management has changed every three years since it has been introduced. "When policy resets every three years, it imposes significant costs on councils and communities, creates uncertainty for farmers and businesses, and makes it harder to achieve the long-term outcomes we all want. "We need to work towards something more enduring." Could bipartisanship on regulations work? "That's the challenge for the minister but also for the leaders of those opposition parties, as well," Ponter said. "Everybody is going to have to find a degree of compromise if something like that is going to work." But he said regional councils had worked constructively with successive governments and they were ready to do so again. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Farmers hail end of 'unworkable' RMA, Greens say changes dismantle protections
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says the proposed changes are complex and technical but have a big impact on the economy. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins The government's proposed Resource Management Act changes have been met with jubilation from some quarters, and dismay from others. Public consultation has opened on a suite of different national directions across infrastructure, primary sector development, and freshwater. Announcing the proposals, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop described National Policy Statements as "the meat on the bones" of the RMA. "The changes are technical and complex, but they do have a big impact on the economy," he said. The changes would all sit under the RMA as it currently stands. The government was aiming to replace the Act next year. But it was confident these changes, despite their technical and complicated nature, would be able to transition into the new system. The proposed reforms were designed to be more practical and regionally-adaptable. The government's proposed replacing the NPS for Freshwater Management entirely, and "rebalancing" Te Mana o te Wai. The government wants to replace the Resource Management Act next year. Photo: Bill McKay It is a concept that puts the mauri of the water first, but the government said a rebalance towards all water users would give councils more flexibility in how they manage freshwater, and tailor monitoring and management to local conditions. Agriculture minister Todd McClay said councils had become frustrated by "burdensome" processes they had to go through, but working together would lead to better outcomes for freshwater and for productivity. Farmers were onboard, but environmentalists were concerned it could be an open invite to pollution. Federated Farmers welcomed the proposals, saying the previous government's freshwater rules were "completely unworkable" for farmers. Vice president and freshwater spokesperson Colin Hurst said councils were unclear on how they should interpret Te Mana o Te Wai. "It's very hard to work out exactly what that meant, certainly from the wider communities around the country," he said. Hurst said Federated Farmers was still digesting the proposals, but said it was important to strike a balance between water quality and economic activity. "We're looking forward to having a system that's more enabling, but still have a framework of the rules set up, a sort of national standard that if you meet the standard you should be able to carry on farming, but still conscious we're not degrading the environment and that kind of thing." Freshwater expert Dr Mike Joy said the consenting changes felt like half a lifetime's amount of work thrown out overnight. He said freshwater was getting worse and worse, but Te Mana o Te Wai - a key part of the 2020 National Policy Statement - was about putting freshwater ahead of big business. "It's basically being thrown out along with the rest of the protections in the Resource Management Act. "Most of our lowland rivers are not swimmable or fishable anymore" he said, and "things are going to get worse". He said the changes would not be friendly to farmers, and would instead make them "pariahs" for environmental failures. Dr Mike Joy is particularly alarmed at one proposed change in the RMA. Photo: supplied Joy was particularly alarmed at a change that would remove restrictions on non-intensive wetland grazing. "If you think of it as a human analogy, it's like we've lost 90 percent of our kidneys, and then we've only got 10 percent left, and then they want to destroy them by allowing cattle grazing on it. "If you think of it from a human health perspective, we would know that it's suicidal to do that." Tasman's mayor said the proposed RMA changes would take time to digest, but it was good the detail could now be debated. Tim King said people could now take a look, determine what their view was, and provide feedback. "People just want to understand what it is they can do and the process they go through for that what they can't do. And if this brings more clarity to people, then that'd be a good thing," he said. King believed people would welcome the simplicity, given the system had become "very complex and tends to require the use of consultants". He said councils would have to work under whatever "national direction" was decided, but could be the connection between that and the local communities. "We may well be the connection between the community, whether that's farmers, other landowners, the community in general, between these suggested changes and actually implementing them on the ground. "So obviously, we're going to have a really key focus on how that part of it might work." The Green Party, meanwhile, was angry and disheartened. Its environment spokesperson Lan Pham said it was a "comprehensive dismantling" of major protections that were in place. "It feels like we've been working for decades, literally, to get some basic functional environmental protections in place, and now this government is announcing these sweeping changes, which are essentially this comprehensive dismantling of these very meagre protections that we even had in place." Green Party environment spokesperson Lan Pham. Photo: RNZ / Conan Young She said the concerning thing about the changes was they touched on "every single environmental domain". "Everything from our forests to our fresh water to our oceans. "The power of the national direction is that it can basically enable this wholesale pollution, wholesale degradation, wholesale exploitation under the guise of growth, which this government is entirely blinkered in their thinking, and it's all for a quick buck." She said the current and future generations would be the ones who "pay the price" of this "environmental degradation and exploitation". Labour's environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said the government was undoing all the work Labour did to ensure rivers were clean enough to swim in. "Labour had a goal of swimmable rivers within a generation to deal with pollution, so that your kids and grandkids wouldn't get sick just from going swimming," she said. "National seem determined to allow polluters to profit from our environment while also destroying it." Brooking did however say it was good the community would get to have a say, unlike with projects approved by fast-track legislation. Coalition partner ACT wants Te Mana o te Wai and national bottom lines scrapped entirely, leaving regional councils free to set their own standards. Rebalancing Te Mana o te Wai is a coalition commitment, but ACT leader David Seymour said consultation would be a chance for those who want to get rid of it altogether to have their say. "This is an opportunity for people who basically think Te Mana o Te Wai is nonsensical, it's vague, it really stops ironically people from building their mana, from using the land in a responsible way to grow our prosperity as a country. "We believe it's time for such a concept to be dumped." There were also proposals to amend provisions to allow for wetland quarrying and mining provisions. Essentially, in order to build and maintain infrastructure, the government wants quarries and mines but the RMA had made consenting the projects too difficult. Aggregate and Quarry association CEO Wayne Scott said the National Policy Statements for Indigenous Biodiversity and for Highly Productive Land used terms like "aggregate extraction," which were undefined, as opposed to "quarrying activities," which was the National Planning Standards definition for what they do. "The difference is that aggregate extraction is just actually extracting material out of the ground. It doesn't take any other ancillary activities that are associated with quarrying," he said. "So we've seen that resource consent applications have been unable to be lodged because the activity was more than just extracting aggregate. "So that change is going to be quite significant." He also pointed to "some superfluous words" used in the land NPS that said the exemption did not apply if it could be otherwise sourced in New Zealand. "We're not quite sure what those words meant, but the interpretation was that if you can source it elsewhere, then the development can't proceed, and that has stifled a number of core applications around the country." Scott said it was important to have aggregate sources close to the market, but said they do not "just pop quarries anywhere for the sake of it" and there would only be quarries where there was demand. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
6 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Electrifying Growth: Infrastructure And Energy RMA National Direction Open For Consultation
Press Release – New Zealand Government The RMA is a direct contributor to New Zealands infrastructure deficit. It drives up costs, slows projects down, and has become a complicated nightmare for councils and applicants alike, says Mr Bishop. Minister for RMA Reform Hon Simon Watts Minister for Energy The Government is taking action to address the country's infrastructure deficit and energy shortage through a series of important changes to national direction under the RMA, say RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Energy Minister Simon Watts. National direction refers to rules and policies sitting under the Resource Management Act (RMA) that inform how councils develop and implement local plans and rules. The Government is today releasing three discussion documents proposing amendments to twelve different instruments and the introduction of four new instruments, centred on three packages: infrastructure and development, the primary sector and freshwater. 'The RMA is a direct contributor to New Zealand's infrastructure deficit. It drives up costs, slows projects down, and has become a complicated nightmare for councils and applicants alike', says Mr Bishop. 'Sorting out our planning rules is critical to boosting economic growth and improving living standards. 'In our first year in office, we repealed Labour's botched RMA reforms and made a series of quick and targeted amendments to remove unnecessary regulations for primary industries as well as barriers to investment in development and infrastructure. 'We also passed the Fast-track Approvals Act to make it much easier to deliver infrastructure and other development projects with significant regional or national benefits. The first projects are already going through the fast-track process. 'Next year we'll replace the RMA with new legislation premised on property rights. Our new system will provide a framework that makes it easier to plan and deliver infrastructure and energy projects, as well as protecting the environment. 'In the meantime, we're making targeted, quick changes through our second RMA Amendment Bill which is expected back from the Environment Committee next month, and these changes to national direction. 'We're proposing a new National Policy Statement for Infrastructure to send a clear message that infrastructure is critical to our prosperity, and to prioritise existing and new infrastructure in resource consent processes. 'We're also proposing a strengthened National Policy Statement for Renewable Electricity Generation. The current NPS was drafted in 2011 and is far too vague and woolly. Decision-makers need clear guidance that renewable energy is vital to our prosperity. We need billions of dollars of investment in the coming years in renewable energy supply but it's too hard to consent renewable energy projects'. 'This Government is committed to unleashing transmission and distribution infrastructure on our mission to electrify the New Zealand economy,' Mr Watts says. 'We know the energy system is facing complex challenges right now. The security and reliability of our electricity supply depend on bringing new generation online and strengthening our network infrastructure. 'Right now, New Zealand's energy infrastructure is vulnerable to severe weather events and seasonal shortages. By changing the electricity generation and transmission national direction, we can improve both energy security and affordability, while helping us achieve our goal of doubling renewable energy by 2050. The changes will also support the country's existing renewable energy assets, including lines networks.' 'The current environmental standards around telecommunication facilities were drafted in 2016 and are now very out of date. Changes to the standards will update rules around poles and other infrastructure and create a more efficient consenting environment', Mr Bishop says. 'Cabinet has also agreed to progress new national direction for Natural Hazards. The aim for the new National Policy Statement for Natural Hazards is to make straightforward changes that will have an immediate effect on consenting as well as align with the new resource management system.' 'We want councils to make better choices about where and how people can build so that new development is more resilient to severe weather events. Further direction to councils around how to identify, assess and respond to risks from natural hazards can be provided as part of the next stage of resource management reform'. Consultation on these proposals will remain open until 27 July 2025. The Government intends to have 16 new or updated national direction instruments in place by the end of this year. Fact sheet attached here. Infrastructure and development is one of three national direction packages released today as part of the Government's wider reform of the resource management system. The other two packages cover changes for the primary sector and freshwater management.
Scoop
6 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Electrifying Growth: Infrastructure And Energy RMA National Direction Open For Consultation
Press Release – New Zealand Government The RMA is a direct contributor to New Zealands infrastructure deficit. It drives up costs, slows projects down, and has become a complicated nightmare for councils and applicants alike, says Mr Bishop. Minister for RMA Reform Hon Simon Watts Minister for Energy The Government is taking action to address the country's infrastructure deficit and energy shortage through a series of important changes to national direction under the RMA, say RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Energy Minister Simon Watts. National direction refers to rules and policies sitting under the Resource Management Act (RMA) that inform how councils develop and implement local plans and rules. The Government is today releasing three discussion documents proposing amendments to twelve different instruments and the introduction of four new instruments, centred on three packages: infrastructure and development, the primary sector and freshwater. 'The RMA is a direct contributor to New Zealand's infrastructure deficit. It drives up costs, slows projects down, and has become a complicated nightmare for councils and applicants alike', says Mr Bishop. 'Sorting out our planning rules is critical to boosting economic growth and improving living standards. 'In our first year in office, we repealed Labour's botched RMA reforms and made a series of quick and targeted amendments to remove unnecessary regulations for primary industries as well as barriers to investment in development and infrastructure. 'We also passed the Fast-track Approvals Act to make it much easier to deliver infrastructure and other development projects with significant regional or national benefits. The first projects are already going through the fast-track process. 'Next year we'll replace the RMA with new legislation premised on property rights. Our new system will provide a framework that makes it easier to plan and deliver infrastructure and energy projects, as well as protecting the environment. 'In the meantime, we're making targeted, quick changes through our second RMA Amendment Bill which is expected back from the Environment Committee next month, and these changes to national direction. 'We're proposing a new National Policy Statement for Infrastructure to send a clear message that infrastructure is critical to our prosperity, and to prioritise existing and new infrastructure in resource consent processes. 'We're also proposing a strengthened National Policy Statement for Renewable Electricity Generation. The current NPS was drafted in 2011 and is far too vague and woolly. Decision-makers need clear guidance that renewable energy is vital to our prosperity. We need billions of dollars of investment in the coming years in renewable energy supply but it's too hard to consent renewable energy projects'. 'This Government is committed to unleashing transmission and distribution infrastructure on our mission to electrify the New Zealand economy,' Mr Watts says. 'We know the energy system is facing complex challenges right now. The security and reliability of our electricity supply depend on bringing new generation online and strengthening our network infrastructure. 'Right now, New Zealand's energy infrastructure is vulnerable to severe weather events and seasonal shortages. By changing the electricity generation and transmission national direction, we can improve both energy security and affordability, while helping us achieve our goal of doubling renewable energy by 2050. The changes will also support the country's existing renewable energy assets, including lines networks.' 'The current environmental standards around telecommunication facilities were drafted in 2016 and are now very out of date. Changes to the standards will update rules around poles and other infrastructure and create a more efficient consenting environment', Mr Bishop says. 'Cabinet has also agreed to progress new national direction for Natural Hazards. The aim for the new National Policy Statement for Natural Hazards is to make straightforward changes that will have an immediate effect on consenting as well as align with the new resource management system.' 'We want councils to make better choices about where and how people can build so that new development is more resilient to severe weather events. Further direction to councils around how to identify, assess and respond to risks from natural hazards can be provided as part of the next stage of resource management reform'. Consultation on these proposals will remain open until 27 July 2025. The Government intends to have 16 new or updated national direction instruments in place by the end of this year. Fact sheet attached here. Infrastructure and development is one of three national direction packages released today as part of the Government's wider reform of the resource management system. The other two packages cover changes for the primary sector and freshwater management.
