6. Question No. 6—EnvironmentRACHEL BROOKING (Labour) to the Minister for the EnvironmentQuestion No. 6—Environment6. RACHEL BROOKING (Labour) to the Minister for the Environment: Talofa lava Mr Speaker. What changes is the Government making to the resource management system?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): The Government is repealing and replacing the Resource Management Act (RMA) during this parliamentary term primarily with two Acts. The Strategic Planning Act the SPA will integrate the other legislation relevant to development and require long-term regional spatial strategies. The Act will integrate functions under the RMA the Local Government Act the Land Transport Management Act and the Climate Change Response Act to enable clearer and more efficient decision-making and private sector investment. The Natural and Built Environments Act the NBA will provide for land use and environmental regulation. An exposure draft of the core parts of that bill is due to be sent to the Environment Committee in the coming weeks.Rachel Brooking: Why is the Government repealing and replacing the Resource Management Act?Hon DAVID PARKER: Urban areas have been struggling to keep pace with population growth and the need for affordable housing; water quality has deteriorated; biodiversity is diminishing; and there's an urgent need to reduce carbon emissions as well as adapt to climate change. The new laws will improve the natural environment better enable development within environmental limits and provide an effective role for Māori while improving housing supply and process affordability. This will be achieved through planning processes that will be improved so that costs and times are reduced for users of the system.Rachel Brooking: How did Budget 2021 support the reform of the resource management system?Hon DAVID PARKER: The Government's investing $131.8 million in the design enactment and transition which includes substantial progress to be made on implementation of the reforms through to 2024. In my view the success of the new system and its ability to hit the ground running doesn't depend just on the new legislation but on proper implementation. The Government's commitment to properly fund the transition is really born of the lesson of why the RMA which is essentially quite good legislation did not perform as it was intended. After the 1991 Act was passed the Environment Court wasn't properly funded. Plans and consents were held up for many years which held up a lot of development. There were no standard forms of plans no standard formats and there was very little national direction; so there was too much uncertainty. National policies such as freshwater or urban development guidance was too little too late and we're not going to make that same mistake. We intend to redraft the national planning framework to produce draft NBA and SPA plans and related maps as part of the transitional programme so that this hits the ground running once the legislation comes into effect.Hon Scott Simpson: Why when house price inflation continues unabated at about 20 percent a year is he not moving faster on his resource management system reforms?Hon DAVID PARKER: The member's wrong. I think the latest house price inflation in Auckland Central suburbs was a decrease of 1 percent in the central city and 2 percent in Devonport and both Treasury and the Reserve Bank are predicting inflation in the coming year of 1 or 2 percent per annum averaged across the country.