Their letter from a couple of days ago:

An update on the councils locking in “Mana Whakahono ā Rohe” (iwi participation agreements) in advance of Parliament passing the new laws to replace the RMA.

Firstly, thank you to all of our supporters who took the time to contact Government MPs. Based on the number of MPs who reached out to the Taxpayers’ Union over the weekend, it is very clear that the Beehive is feeling the pressure.

Good. We can’t let them ignore this one.

Forcing the media to take notice

Of course Radio NZ and 1News are ignoring the issue. But on Thursday, Northland Councillor Davina Smolders was interviewed by Heather du Plessis-Allan on the very matters we’ve been raising.

It is worth listening to. Incredibly, this Councillor has been asking for information about what her own Council officials are negotiating, and she’s been refused!

Coincidentally, I was on air immediately after the interview with former Auckland Mayor Phil Goff. We’ve uploaded the interview onto our website here.

On Friday I also joined Kerre Woodham on Newstalk ZB to set out our concerns and why we consider it such an important issue.  That interview is also up on our website.

What MPs in NZ First and ACT are telling us about National’s position

Over the weekend, senior figures in both New Zealand First and ACT contacted our team to make clear that they do not support the carrying over or entrenchment of MWR Agreements in the replacement laws to the RMA.

And this morning, (again on Newstalk ZB) the Prime Minister was asked by Mike Hosking about the issue.

Christopher Luxon said that the councils are being “disingenuous” in rushing through these agreements and that RMA Replacement Minister Chris Bishop would have something to say “very soon”.

The last minute “compromise” being cooked up in Wellington

We’re hearing that the Government is now looking to make last minute changes to introduce an entirely new scheme of “Iwi Relationship Agreements” as part of the new planning laws.

Of course the devil would be in the detail in terms of what these new agreements would cover.

Kathryn, our position is clear: there should be no “special agreements” with iwi (or any other organisations) to get special treatment in planning and consent decision making.

We say councils should be required to set policies on how they consult and engage with all stakeholders – iwi, non-iwi, business groups, ratepayers, affected members of the public – with the ultimate decisions only being made by those who are democratically elected.

No closed room deal making is needed for that!

It’s that principle that I am asking you to get behind and demand. Will you back us?

Next steps

We’ve got the politicians on notice, but now we need to go for the policy win.

We can’t let bad law be rushed through Parliament just so National can say it’s “done” in time for the election. After all, with Three Waters, Simon Watts “scrapped” Labour’s law, only to wave through councils implementing the same undemocratic, unaccountable governance model 

The latest post from Chris Bishop, Minister Responsible for RMA Reform:

You might have been hearing a bit of chatter about Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements lately – so here’s a bit of an explainer of what they are, and what we’re doing with them.

Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements are formal agreements between councils and iwi that establish how they will engage with each other on planning, policy-making and resource consent processes under the Resource Management Act.

When the Planning Bill was introduced, it provided that existing Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements – and any that had already been initiated – would automatically transfer into the new planning system, even though no new agreements could be created.

Since then, we’ve become concerned about the rapid increase in new agreements and initiated processes between councils and iwi. Eight agreements existed when the Bills were introduced late last year. Since then, several dozen more have been agreed or initiated.

Cabinet has therefore agreed that existing and initiated Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements will not transfer into the new planning system.

Instead, councils will have the option of entering into new, narrowly scoped iwi participation agreements. These agreements will record how iwi authorities participate in statutory planning processes and processes required to give effect to Treaty settlement redress.

Unlike the current system, councils will have discretion over whether to enter into these agreements, and the legislation will include clear guardrails to ensure they remain tightly focused and cannot expand beyond their intended purpose.

This change reflects our commitment to creating a planning system that is simpler, more consistent and more certain, while continuing to recognise Treaty settlement obligations.