6. Question No. 6—RMA ReformMIKE BUTTERICK (National—Wairarapa) to the Minister responsible for RMA ReformQuestion No. 6—RMA Reform6. MIKE BUTTERICK (National—Wairarapa) to the Minister responsible for RMA Reform: What announcements has he made regarding reforms to the Resource Management Act 1991? Hon CHRIS BISHOP (Minister responsible for RMA Reform): Last week the coalition Government announced we're delivering on our commitment to improve resource management laws and give certainty to consent applications with a bill being introduced to Parliament next month the bill we're calling the Resource Management Amendment Bill (No 1). A number of changes will be included which include making it clear that while the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management is being reviewed and replaced resource consent applicants no longer need to demonstrate their proposed activities follow the Te Mana o te Wai hierarchy of obligations. We're amending stock exclusion regulations in relation to slope land repealing intensive winter grazing regulations and suspending the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB) requirement for councils to identify new significant natural areas (SNAs) for three years. Mike Butterick: What changes is the Government making in this bill to help farmers? Hon CHRIS BISHOP: Well I'm proud to say this coalition Government is ending the war on farmers. The last Government loaded on the regulations putting unnecessary costs on farmers and growers. We're removing the need for resource applicants to demonstrate—Hon Kieran McAnulty: Point of order Mr Speaker. You've been pretty consistent that questions from Government members can't be used not only to attack the previous Government but to cast opinions on previous policies—and a factual statement is fine. Situations of a factual nature that the Government has inherited—no problem. But to cast an opinion not only in the first response but also the second sentence of that response should be pulled up. SPEAKER: Yeah the trouble was there was a heck of a lot of noise coming and I didn't actually pick up all of what was said to be quite straight up with you. But can I just suggest that speaking factually about matters that have existed is fine; being speculative about what those matters were is not so tolerable. So I'll call on the Hon Chris Bishop to start his answer again. Hon CHRIS BISHOP: We're proposing to remove the problematic and contentious low slope map and for regional councils and farmers to determine where stock needs to be excluded based on risk. The focus is on farm-level and regionally suitable solutions. These changes will reduce costs for farmers. There's more work to do but this is an important first step. Mike Butterick: What else does this bill do to help farmers? Hon CHRIS BISHOP: More good news: we're suspending the NPSIB requirement for councils to identify new significant natural areas for three years enabling farmers and growers to find the right solutions for their farm and catchment rather than a dictatorial centralised approach. The criteria for identifying new SNAs were an attempt to provide a standard approach to identifying the most important areas of biodiversity. However we've heard the concerns of Kiwis that less significant areas are being captured and this can place too much restriction on how land is used. This change restores property rights for landowners cuts red tape and lets farmers and growers get on with what they do best which is farming. Mike Butterick: How do these changes fit in with the Government's wider Resource Management Act (RMA) reform agenda? Hon CHRIS BISHOP: Our RMA reforms have two broad objectives. The first thing is to make it easier to get things done by unlocking capacity for housing and business growth enabling delivery of quality infrastructure; doubling renewable energy; and enabling primary sector growth and development. Our second objective is to safeguard the environment and human health adapt to climate change and improve regulatory quality in the resource management system. Across the coalition documents making up this multiparty Government there are 20 different commitments relating to the RMA that we are responsible for delivering. As part of phase two we will be delivering many of those and of course the ultimate goal is to deliver on our phase three commitment to repeal and replace the existing RMA with a new regime premised on the enjoyment of property rights.