Roche Denise: Resource Management Reform Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRoche Denise: Resource Management Reform Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 25 June 2013. Volume:691;Page:11245. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DENISE ROCHE (Green):The Resource Management Reform Bill as reported back to the House is admittedly softer than what went to the Local Government and Environment Committee but it is not soft enough and it is still very nasty so we willnot be supporting it. It is still an attack on urban trees as we have heard from the previous speaker the Hon David Cunliffe and it still continues to ensure that economic considerations get precedence over environmental protections like water use for example in planning decisions. It undermines local decision-making and it will reduce public participation in planning processes but it leaves councils with more risk around litigation and it completely messes around with unitary plan process and democracy and accountability in Auckland.The bill essentially takes the Resource Management Act which is a comprehensive piece of legislation that has been in existence since 1991 and fiddles with the bits that the Government finds inconvenient. The bill is another attack on local government. It is an ongoing theme from this Government and it will not stop with this bill.This afternoon in the House during question time we heard the Minister for the Environment say that she is thinking about another amendment to the Resource Management Act before this one has even been finalised. This time she wants to amend it because some pesky councils might want to restrict the planting and use of genetically modified organisms in their area—some councils might feel they want to safeguard their environment. It is smart for them to actually think about safeguarding their environment because most councils have had to deal with a deregulated building sector that brought forward the saga on the leaky buildings which actually cost councils an enormous amount of money.The Greens are also opposed to the 6-month time limit for processing medium-sized developments which forgets to take into account that sometimes it is the developer who slows down the process.It is the removal of local participation in decision making that I find most offensive in the bill as reported back. Democratic processes seem to be unheard of in the National Government vocabulary. Hardest hit by this lack of consideration of course is Auckland. The bill continues the Government’s track record of stomping on Auckland Council and Auckland ratepayers who elected the Auckland mayor the Auckland councillors and the 21 local boards and their members. The provisions in this bill around the Auckland Unitary Plan are designed to undermine the council and hastily push through a unitary plan that favours the Government’s developer friends.We are not opposed to having a combined plan in Auckland. What we are opposed to is the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Conservation appointing the hearings commissioners and setting their terms of reference. We maintain that this decision should be made by our Auckland Council representatives because it is an Auckland plan.The short time frame to get the unitary plan finalised is also a concern. It reduces genuine public consultation. When it is combined with the sidelining of the Environment Court and is allowing appeals only if the council rejects a hearing panel recommendation it is designed to cut out ordinary citizens from the processes. The plan effectively becomes a one-stop process which means that the quality of the decision making may be a lot worse than unitary plans elsewhere. Once more Auckland is being singled out. Aucklanders will not be able to challenge this plan except on very narrow points of law. We oppose the provisions in this bill that give hearing panels the power to make recommendations on any other matter that no submitter may have raised because this goes against natural justice.On a personal note I am pleased that this Government has decided that the Hauraki Gulf islands district plan will not be included in the Auckland Unitary Plan. That is because it has taken an enormous amount of effort and time and expertise to get as far as we have with that plan and there are still problems with it which are still being resolved. All in all we will not be supporting this bill because it does not do what it is set out to do.