Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Well what we've heard there is the Greenpeace 1991 talking points but that's not relevant to what we're here to do today. New Zealand needs resource management law that actually allows us to build infrastructure and housing and allows New Zealand businesses to invest with confidence in assets that produce things.Hon Rachel Brooking: Come on—come on Simon medium-density residential standards.SIMON COURT: That's right the Hon Rachel Brooking we're here today to repeal the terrible legislation that you and your Government spent five years cooking up; today it goes in the bin. What New Zealanders need is to be able to see the clear trade-offs between land use and environmental protection.The Acts we're repealing today do not provide that clarity. That's why they don't help New Zealand get ahead. We need to allow New Zealanders to enjoy and use their property with a minimum of red tape and a minimum number of people who have the right to object to how you use it including minimising the risk that activists might turn up to try to get some kind of stake in the ground on your consent application that has implications for all New Zealanders.We need bills. We need replacement legislation that makes it easier to build and grow. The Natural and Built Environment and the Spatial Planning Acts were not going to do that. That's why they're going to be repealed today. The former Labour Minister Rachel Brooking mentioned te Oranga o te Taiao. Did anyone in the House hear that member try to explain what te Oranga o te Taiao meant? Well even a former practising resource management lawyer couldn't explain it and that's exactly what her colleagues told me and others at various resource management law events I've attended in the past 12 months. They didn't understand what it meant. It was going to take 10 years to define it through the courts. That entire time was going to be a period of great uncertainty for New Zealand businesses and primary producers seeking to invest.Businesses farmers and public infrastructure builders need clarity on time lines and consent conditions in order to go ahead with investments. There is nothing in the legislation that Labour passed that we're going to repeal today that was going to provide that clarity. When it comes to fresh water this bill will pause—in fact sorry delay—the implementation of the national policy statement for fresh water because it's proving impossible to implement and provide fair outcomes for those who need water or discharge to water. It's completely unworkable. Last week a decision was handed back by a court to some applicants who opposed the granting of an exemption for vegetable growers in the Horowhenua and Pukekohe areas where 80 percent of the vegetables in New Zealand supermarkets come from and a number of groups had appealed against the exemption that vegetable growers in those areas had from the rules in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management because they said they should apply equally. Well if the Horizons Regional Council is required to reduce on emissions or discharges by 100 percent that means potentially all of the vegetables in those regions won't be able to be grown. That's 80 percent of the vegetables in New Zealand supermarkets. It's totally impractical freshwater rules like that that will have to go and that this bill puts a pause on.Now restoring the Resource Management Act is only temporary. At least New Zealand businesses growers and farmers understand it even though it's not perfect. But what this Government is doing is retaining and enhancing the fast-track provisions that will allow all kinds of infrastructure to be stood up consented much more quickly. And I do commend the Minister the Hon Chris Bishop for the work he's done to bring this bill to the House so quickly. We will pass it in the next 24 hours and New Zealanders will be able to get on with building their businesses growing their farms and actually planning for their future.