by Thomas Manch on Business Desk
 RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop holding up copies of the two bills to replace the Resource Management Act, at a prior event. (Image: Mark Mitchell/NZME) |
The transition to a new resource management regime has been delayed to at least the end of 2029 by a parliamentary committee, which has also recommended expanding ministerial powers and preserving contentious regulatory relief provisions in new legislation.
The Environment Committee produced its report on the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill on Monday, suggesting numerous tweaks and meaningful changes to the two pieces of legislation that will replace the Resource Management Act (RMA).
Among changes recommended by the committee, which received 3200 public submissions on the bill, were delays to various deadlines by which aspects of the new resource management system will come into effect, extending the transition from 30 to 39 months overall.
A majority of the committee, which includes MPs from the Government and the Opposition, also agreed that the ability for the minister to create a pathway for “significant infrastructure” to breach environmental limits should be widened to “publicly beneficial activities”.
The contentious regulatory relief regime, which could cost councils between $7 million and $1.99 billion nationwide, according to consultants Martin Jenkins, should remain intact, the committee said, despite opposition from submitters.
However, the potential market-based allocation of permits for the use of natural resources will be removed from the bills.RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop, responding to the report’s release, said the committee made “a range of sensible improvements, which the Government supports”.
Opposition MPs on the committee opposed changes recommended by the majority of the committee on various grounds.
Delayed transition
The committee agreed with submitters that the timeframes in the legislation were “ambitious and would place particular pressure on local authorities” and proposed extending the overall transition by nine months to ease the burden. According to a Ministry for the Environment infographic on how this extended timeframe would play out, the full replacement regime could be expected to come into full force by the end of 2029 – if the legislation was passed into law by mid-2026.
In his statement on Monday, Bishop did not set any timeframes for passing the two bills.Among the aspects of the regime that experienced the most substantial delays was the setting of national standards for human health limits and methodologies for setting ecosystem health limits, with the nine-month timeframe becoming an 18-month process.