Simpson Scott; Parker David; Salesa JennyHon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Thank you Madam Chair and I want to thank the Minister for the Environment for his introductory comments. I've got some questions in relation to the cornerstone legislation relating to the Natural and Built Environments Bill. Will a bill be introduced to Parliament this year so that a full select committee process can occur?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): Yes.Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Is the Minister committed to a full select committee process—simultaneously or independently—for the Natural and Built Environments Bill and the Strategic Planning Bill?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): Full select committee processes will be run for both; we're not proposing to truncate them. They're big and complex pieces of legislation but we do expect that they will be run in parallel. Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): What are the reasons for the delay in the time frame for the introduction of the Natural and Built Environments Bill?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): There is actually not much delay. There was an article that was in the media recently that suggests that there was substantial delay; there isn't. We're expecting it to be introduced for a first reading in the last quarter of this year. Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Has he or his ministry shared a draft Natural and Built Environments Bill with any external stakeholders? For clarity I'm asking about a full draft of the bill as opposed to the exposure draft that was released last year.CHAIRPERSON (Hon Jenny Salesa): You may wish to ask more questions. I call on the Hon Scott Simpson.Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): If he has released a full draft of the proposed new legislation who are the stakeholders that he's shared it with and what has been their response and if they have had a full copy when will he release a full copy to this Parliament and the New Zealand public?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): Thank you Madam Chair. There's a long background to these reforms. There has been considerable civil society disquiet with the ineffectiveness of the Resource Management Act (RMA) both as a tool to manage and encourage appropriate development and to protect environmental bottom-lines. That civil society endeavour has included reports by the Productivity Commission with recent reports showing that infrastructure consenting costs are 250 percent of where they were about 10 years ago so it's been a very costly system. In addition to the Productivity Commission's work there have been independent reports by the Environmental Defence Society in concert with the infrastructure NGO the Property Council; and the northern Employers and Manufacturers Association as it was then. And that led us to doing the Randerson report. The Randerson report is essentially the template that we're implementing which was our promise to the electorate and we're going through that process. The first half if you like of the core equivalence to Part 2 of the existing RMA went to an inquiry at the Environment Committee last year. The results of the inquiry in addition to working through all of the other issues that have arisen from a reform of it are currently being worked through. We've got a cross-agency board running in respect of the Strategic Planning Bill and it's bringing all of the different agencies of Government because of course the interests of different Government departments include transport education and health as well as the Ministry for the Environment and the Department of Conservation. All that work is proceeding at pace and it is quite complex work—it's one of the more complex pieces of legislation on the statute book and it's very important that we get it right. All of that consultation by those prior organisations—then through the Randerson panel which consulted up and down the land including with Māoridom but also with local authorities NGOs and civil society—has led us to actually getting down to doing the hard work now of putting it together and drafting it. Whilst we have had some limited consultation during this phase including meeting our obligations at law to the Treaty partner and working with local Government because they're the implementation grouping we're actually not broadly consulting with anyone; neither are we proposing to take a finished version of the bill to anyone before we introduce it to the House and put it to the select committee at which stage there will be a full select committee process and everyone can have another crack at submitting. Hon SCOTT SIMPSON (National—Coromandel): Has he received advice from officials at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development or Treasury outlining their concerns that the proposed bill will not improve the efficiency of the planning system as stated in the objectives of his cornerpiece legislative reform? Is the reason for the delay disgruntlement with some of the stakeholders notably—or potentially—iwi and if so what is the cause of their disgruntlement? Has he finally agreed definitional meanings to portions of te reo that were part of the exposure draft legislation and if not when will that occur and how does he envisage that taking place?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): In respect of the first question no there's no disgruntlement or disagreement holding up the progression of this bill. We are working through complex issues—there are people who have different opinions on them—but that's the task of Government: to work through those issues and come up with sound proposals. In respect of the assertion in there that there's substantial delay—there's not.