Last week the Minister for the Environment, Hon David Parker,
introduced the Resource Management Amendment Bill
(Bill) to the house.
The Bill proposes to repeal a number of the changes to the RMA
that were introduced by the previous coalition Government in the
Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 (RLAA) and
otherwise includes some easy 'wins' for this Government.
Its stated aim is to reduce complexity, increase certainty, restore
public participation opportunities, improve Resource Management Act
1991 (RMA) processes, and support the urgent need
to improve freshwater management and outcomes in New Zealand.
While a more comprehensive review of the resource management
system is still underway, this Bill will mean some relatively
significant changes on the ground in the meantime, especially for
regional councils, by way of the new freshwater planning process
and the powers that have been given to the Environmental Protection
Authority (EPA).
