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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
Justice Minister proposes higher penalties for assaults against first responders
The proposed legislation was promised in National's coalition agreement with New Zealand First. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has proposed the introduction of higher penalties for people who assault first responders. Goldsmith's proposal would expand the current assault against police to also cover prison officers and all first responders. The new offence of assaulting a first responder with intent to injure would mean up to five years in prison - two years higher than the standard offence. Actually injuring them would carry a sentence of up to seven years and counts against the three strikes regime, which can impose mandatory minimum sentences. The proposed legislation was promised in National's coalition agreement with New Zealand First. More to come ... Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Sentencing reforms introduced cap potential discounts and bring new aggravating factors
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says the sentencing reforms were about restoring real consequences for crime. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Sentencing reforms which will cap discounts judges can give to an offender and introduce aggravating factors at sentencing, have come into effect as the government targets tougher crime consequences. The Labour Party says the move will only exacerbate an already clogged court system, add huge costs to the taxpayer by increasing the prison population, and will not reduce crime or the number of victims. But Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the sentencing reforms, which came into effect on Sunday, were about restoring real consequences for crime. Communities and hardworking New Zealanders should not be made to live and work in fear of criminals who had a "flagrant disregard for the law, corrections officers and the general public", he said. "We know that undue leniency has resulted in a loss of public confidence in sentencing, and our justice system as a whole. We had developed a culture of excuses." The tougher stance was part of the government's plan to "restore law and order, which we know is working", he said. "It signals to victims that they deserve justice, and that they are our priority." The changes include: ACT MP Nicole McKee welcomed the new rules saying there had been a steady erosion of public confidence in the justice system. "Offenders faced fewer and shorter prison sentences, while communities paid the price." ACT MP Nicole McKee welcomed the new rules. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone She said police data showed a 134 percent increase in serious assault leading to injury from 2017 to 2023 under "Labour's failed experiment of being kind to criminals". "We've restored Three Strikes , and from today additional measures are coming into force to make the message even clearer." She said the vulnerability of people who worked alone or in a business attached to their home would be "recognised in law" thanks to ACT's coalition agreement to crack down on retail crime with the introduction of the aggravating factors. Labour's spokesperson for Justice Duncan Webb, however, said tough on crime sounded good but did not actually have the effect of reducing crime. "We've got to be smart on crime as well. We've got to address the causes of crime which we know are poverty, family violence, mental illness and addiction, and until we address those, there'll continue to be crime and there'll continue to be victims." Tougher sentences were just one option, he said. "If we're gonna be serious about reducing crime and reducing harm, we've got to address those causes of crime." Labour spokesperson for Justice Duncan Webb said tougher sentences were just one option. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Evidence showed tough on crime initiatives such as the Three Strikes law, which the government had reinstated, did not reduce victims, Webb said. "Victims are absolutely central to the approach and the best thing we could ever have is avoiding someone becoming a victim and that means addressing the causes of crime before crime occurs. "And absolutely I understand that when people are victims of crime they want to see the perpetrator punished and that's the right thing to happen, but I'd rather see the appropriate amount of resources put into mental health, reducing poverty, [and] eliminating homelessness, because those are things that create crime and we've seen them all increase under this government." The fact white collar crime such as fraud - which was one of the few crimes that responded to deterrents - was not captured by Three Strikes was inconsistent, Webb said. Webb said he had sought feedback from those in the social services, intervention, and criminal justice sectors. "They're all frustrated with the fact the direction that's being taken is going to clog up the courts, it's going to create more offenders, it's going to create more victims and it's not actually going to address what we really want to address which is the things that cause crime." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Exhibition showcases an era where arts education flourished
history arts 41 minutes ago Following WWII, there was a strong push and a solid foundation to provide arts education to both teachers and children in schools. Art advisers supported and inspired teachers while many early-career artists trained at The Auckland College of Education; which later become the Faculty of Education and would merge with Auckland University. Practices included painting, print-making, weaving and ceramics. The university would then buy these artworks and as a result now has a considerable collection which is currently on display in an exhibition called Hands On at the Auckland University General Library until 16 July. The collection includes works by more than 100 artists including Len Castle, Barry Brickell and Ralph Hotere. But in 1989, after the introduction of Tomorrow's Schools, the style of education changed to focus more on measurable outcomes, set standards and less on creativity. In the past 20 years there's been further reduction in time allocated to arts education and trainee teachers to gain experience in the arts leading to a decline in focus on the arts within schools. That level of support and training for teachers is no longer there. This is despite international evidence showing arts-rich schools do better. 'Hands On' celebrates a time when arts education flourished, was prioritised and more heavily integrated into the wider school curriculum. Auckland University Arts Curator, Madeleine Gifford, speaks to Culture 101 about the exhibition.
