The Resource Management Amendment Bill was introduced to the
House on 23 September 2019 and had its first reading in Parliament
yesterday. The Bill includes a new freshwater planning process to
support the implementation of the National Policy Statement for
Freshwater Management 2020 (NPS). The Bill also
addresses aspects of consenting, enforcement and the Environment
Court provisions.
The primary objectives of the reforms are to reduce complexity,
increase certainty and to restore public participation removed by
the 2017 Amendments.
It is intended that more comprehensive reform will follow,
focussing on alignment across different pieces of resource
management legislation; creation, amendment and implementation
issues relating to plans and providing for public participation;
improving the quality of decision-making; the issuing of clear
national direction; and removing unnecessary complexity.
