Parker DavidRESOURCE MANAGEMENT AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): I move That the Resource Management Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Environment Committee to consider the bill.The Resource Management Act (RMA) is in the view of the Government underperforming and needs fixing. The resource management system in general is not performing as well as originally intended. Air quality is going pretty well but other indicators are poor. Water and biodiversity indicators are in decline. Soil loss has increased. Urban development planning has not responded fast enough to the housing crisis. Over 25 years of amendments have made the situation worse and the RMA is now nearly twice its original length. Using the RMA takes too long costs too much and hasn't properly protected the environment.The Government's committed to addressing this. We're first using existing tools to make improvements in the current system including a new national direction for versatile soils urban development and fresh water. In July this year we launched a comprehensive overhaul of the resource management system. This is being undertaken by a review panel led by retired Court of Appeal judge the Hon Tony Randerson QC and we look forward to receiving reform recommendations from the panel in mid-2020. However in the meantime there are a number of targeted improvements to the current RMA that can't wait including reversing some of the objectionable changes made by the prior Government in 2017 that were widely criticised at the time.Changes are also necessary to support the delivery of the Essential Freshwater action plan which is currently out for consultation. The Government's committed to improving New Zealand's freshwater quality by stopping further degradation and loss and reversing past damage. Key to achieving this will be a new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management under the RMA. We're consulting on its detail now and its final form which won't be known for some months yet will come into force in mid-2020 replacing the currently inadequate 2017 version.However we already know that the majority of councils will not be fully implementing even the 2017 national policy statement (NPS) until 2030 or later. That 13-year delay makes it clear that the standard RMA planning process is too slow to implement the new freshwater NPS. So to ensure that necessary plan changes are made by 2025 after which time the NPS will have prospective effect the bill introduces a new specialised planning process for freshwater plans broadly based upon the process that was used for the Auckland Unitary Plan. A central pool of expert freshwater hearing commissioners will be appointed. They'll be specialists and they'll be chaired by a Chief Freshwater Commissioner who'll be a current or retired Environment Court judge. Hearing panels will be set up for each regional freshwater plan change generally with five members but with a minimum of three for some of the simpler or narrower plans. The panels will include regional council members or their nominees and a tangata whenua nominee. Hearing panels will fully test proposed plans in light of submitters' feedback and recommend a plan with any revisions to the relevant council for adoption.At the same time the bill will repeal the 22-page collaborative planning process. This process which was introduced in 2017 was widely criticised at the time as being overly prescriptive and an unnecessary complicated codification of what can and does voluntarily occur. No council has used the statutory process to date and none is likely to. It is redundant and it will be repealed shortening the length of the RMA. As I said also the bill will repeal some other objectionable changes made by the previous Government. Draconian regulation-making powers that enabled the Minister for the Environment to override council rules will be repealed. The presumption that subdivisions require a resource consent unless they're expressly permitted by a rule in a plan will be reinstated. This will save district councils unnecessary costs in reviewing their plan provisions.Preclusions on notifications and appeals in respect of subdivision applications will restore appropriate opportunities for participation. This will enable existing businesses such as quarries airports and horticulturalists to participate on the basis of legitimate concerns about reverse sensitivity impacts that new subdivisions can have on their existing operations. It also removes a perverse incentive for developers to intentionally make their applications non-compliant so as to preserve their appeal rights against unreasonable conditions that might be imposed by a council.The ability of a submitter or an applicant to appeal matters outside the scope of the person's original submission but which arose during the hearing will also be reinstated. The bill will reverse the current phase out of financial contributions which can be a useful tool to address development impacts. The phase out was based on an incorrect assertion of double charging with development contributions under the Local Government Act. This in fact is not permitted by law already. Meanwhile the bill clarifies that financial contributions cannot be imposed on designations for State schools or defence facilities. For schools this is consistent with a 100-year-old deal that central government funds a school but councils don't charge levies on schools.The bill also introduces a number of sensible amendments to existing processes. Applicants for non-notified consents will now be able to suspend their applications for up to 20 working days. Council will be able to stop the processing clock until outstanding consent application fees fixed in advance are paid. The current 20-day time limit to lodge retrospective consent applications for emergency works necessary during a state of emergency will be extended to 60 working days. That arises out of the experience that we've had following earthquakes and allows more time for emergency services to focus their efforts on immediate needs during these events and reduces the need for special legislation as has occurred in recent years.The bill makes explicit that conditions of multiple existing consents can be reviewed concurrently to allow councils to manage cumulative pressures on the environment; for example at a catchment level. On compliance and enforcement maximum infringement fees will be increased and the current six-month statutory limitation for taking prosecutions will be extended to 12 months. The Environmental Protection Authority will be provided with powers under the RMA to assist councils with the investigation of incidents and to take over the lead investigative role from councils if and when necessary.The bill makes some minor changes to the operation of the Environment Court by enabling acting District Court judges acting Māori Land Court judges and retired Environment Court judges to be appointed as alternate Environment Court judges. Special advisers will be protected against legal proceedings regarding their advice and the head of the Environment Court will be renamed to clarify the status of that position.It has been suggested that the bill also address current provisions regarding urban tree projection and climate change mitigation. Both of these matters are complex. Auckland City Council previously used blanket rules that required resource consents to prune trees. This caused significant frustration and undermined the reputation of the RMA. There were also mixed views about whether climate change mitigation or particularly how climate change mitigation should be considered in RMA decisions. If we don't consider this carefully we could see ad hoc opposition to the likes of an individual petrol station which could be problematic. These are important matters and they are fully within the wider comprehensive RMA review that we've got under way.This bill makes marked improvements to the RMA system in advance of more comprehensive changes that will follow the review panel's recommendations next year. I believe it is a good start and I commend the bill to the House.