Simpson Scott; Parker DavidHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you very much Madam Chair. I looked at clause 824 which is headed Local authority policy on discounting administrative charges" and I wondered whether it was linked to the Sentencing Act for offering discounts. But I see actually on further reading that it's not but it is a provision that provides for local authorities or a regional planning committee that is yet to be established—"must adopt a policy for discounting administrative charges. (2) A local authority must adopt a policy in accordance with the special consultative process procedure set out in section 83 of the Local Government Act … that provides for discounts (a) when local authorities are responsible for applications for a resource consent and do not process an application within the time frame required under this Act:". And so this need to comply with time frames that have been set in the legislation has been an ongoing issue through pretty much the entire life of the Resource Management Act. And I suspect that this clause 824 has been more or less transferred from the existing legislation but they've added obviously the regional planning committee piece to it.But my question to the Minister for the Environment is: how can we be sure that when a local authority under this clause is required to establish a discounting methodology for what is effectively their non-performance that that discounting mechanism and pricing model is going to provide meaningful incentives for them to comply themselves? How can we be sure that those incentives or—if you want to reverse it—those penalties for non-compliance of the regulated and legislated time frames are meaningful and are actually going to provide enough incentive for the local authority or the regional planning committee to actually take notice of it?Clause 824 goes on to say in subclause (3) that "The policy must specify (a) the discount or the method for determining the discount that would be given for any application fees or charges paid or owing; and (b) the procedure an applicant must follow to obtain the discount." It just strikes me that it's a bit of the fox in charge of the hen house—the local authority sets the discounting rate and sets the discounting level. You know I'm wondering whether there could have been perhaps some template formula applied that would remove it from being the local authority's purview to set what is as I read it essentially their own incentive or discounting policy rather than having one that might be more meaningful and more encouraging of them meeting their time frame requirements than just setting it themselves.Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): This was a provision inserted by the last National-ACT Government in an effort to create some accountability for time frames. I think it probably has been a useful addition. Yes it is left to local authorities but in my experience local authority councillors and mayors want efficient processes too. They're effectively in charge of that process for setting the discount and they have to use the special consultative process set out in section 83 of the Local Government Act."