Court SimonSIMON COURT (ACT): Thank you Madam Speaker. Spatial planning is an important tool if it gives people businesses and communities information so they can plan where to build. The previous speaker the Hon Phil Twyford once had a good plan himself. That was to abolish Auckland's metropolitan urban limit—what a fantastic idea. It was even included in the Speech from the Throne in 2017 because it would have liberated Aucklanders from the artificial constraint of being told where they are and are not allowed to build. But like so many of Mr Twyford's good ideas unfortunately it's disappeared in a puff of smoke. But don't worry Mr Twyford ACT might just bring that back.Now there is a problem to solve that spatial planning tries to solve. It should reduce the number of consents and the complexity of any planning or application process so that people who own land—private property owners or developers whether they be property developers or asset infrastructure developers—can get on with building the things that we need to actually deliver social benefits. Even though engineers like me love watching bulldozers push dirt around we love watching concrete get poured and buildings go up actually all of that infrastructure is for one specific purpose and that is to deliver social outcomes.What does this bill do? Well it doesn't make it easier to build. In fact what we heard from the Minister for the Environment is that the plan will identify where future growth happens and it will provide a triggering mechanism so that land will only be released for development—around existing urban areas for example—when a trigger is hit under a regional or spatial plan. So instead of property owners deciding I want to build something somewhere because it's needed." they won't.This bill adds divisive co-governance to regional planning committees. A minimum of two out of six of the appointed not elected—two out of six appointed or elected people on regional planning committees will have to be appointees representing iwi Māori. And you can't vote these committees out unlike now. If you're unhappy with the plans the council makes and a community decides they're not delivering for them they can vote the council out—you'll never be able to vote out these regional planning committees. If you think the regional planning committees are doing a bad job just wait because this bill also gives the Minister for the Environment who will become the most powerful Minister in a future Government the opportunity to tell these regional planning committees what they want them to do—absolutely removes democratic local control from the way communities have planned and decided the way they develop.This bill also will allow these plans to limit how people use their land. For example what we heard from officials what we've heard today from Labour Party representatives is that the bill will say where you are and are not allowed to develop. Now they use the very important information around say where sea levels might rise where there are coastal hazards where there are flood zones and where there are risks of slips or volcanoes or seismic risks. Of course a spatial plan needs to convey that information to people who are building or planning for the future. But colouring in the map in a way that sterilises potential resources like quarry resources—sand rock and all kinds of minerals that planners today don't know are there—is incredibly unhelpful. What is much more helpful is if a regional spatial plan actually outlined places that are so special that have such high environmental values for example that we would actually delineate them and say "No there won't be any building there." But of course if they are on private property that would actually require the Government to pony up with taxpayer funds if they are proposing to acquire somebody's private property rights or take some of those property rights away by colouring in a map saying what they are and are not allowed to do. This Government doesn't know about private property rights—they don't understand what they mean. So clearly that's probably why they've omitted mention of private property rights from this bill.The Associate Minister for the Environment the Hon Rachel Brooking also mentioned how wonderful it would be to have one representative from central government sitting on a regional planning committee. Of course there are so many parts of Government that want to build things and sometimes they don't all talk to each other or the local council that does the planning. Well can you imagine one representative of central government sitting on a planning committee and trying to work out where everything should go like a game of Tetris or like a teenager playing SimCity a teenager obsessed with central planning and central control? Imagine the health department the education department road rail ports airports and council parks and recreation all having to tell this committee what they want to build and when it is going to be. It's going to be one central government representative who's going to help them coordinate it all—I mean it's fantastical. I've seen Parks and Recreation—it's hilarious—but that's not the prescription that New Zealand needs.Now what is the purpose of spatial plans? Well to convey information to people who need it so when they go to build they can take account of natural hazards. Or of course if a transport agency or a railway operator or a port or an airport wants to expand or build people will know that when they go to build there—that airport for example have said "We're going to build a second runway. You need to know that planes might be flying over a house you build there."—very very very useful.But what this Government appears to assume is that by doing the spatial planning that's enough. They talk about how this planning process will enable infrastructure. Well how is infrastructure enabled? An infrastructure operator an asset owner has to create an infrastructure delivery programme that says what they're going to build whether it's four-lane roads whether it's ports or whether it's rail—whatever it is they want to build it has to be on a programme held by that asset owner that infrastructure owner. And while it might be on a programme so that they can accommodate future growth—whether it's a whole lot of kids coming to live somewhere so they need to build a new school whatever it is—unless they have funding and financing locked in unless they have a long-term horizon none of this stuff can happen. This "spatial planning equals infrastructure" is a "magic happens" approach to solving some of New Zealand's underlying problems such as how do we deliver more service land at a more affordable price so that housing can be delivered more affordably to people who need it where and when they want to live.That brings me to another problem with this bill. This bill the Spatial Planning Bill when passed will essentially extinguish the opportunity for private developers to progress private plan changes that have delivered some of the best highest-quality master-plan communities for people who want to live around New Zealand—outrageous. Telling people that you can't plan and deliver fantastic communities build town centres or build public transport facilities because it's not where a Minister or an unelected co-governance panel of planning tsars tell you you're allowed to.So what would be better than this? Well you could say just about anything. But we do acknowledge there is an important role for spatial planning—it conveys information. But the bit that's missing is the infrastructure funding and financing component. Now here's the tell: when this bill one of three was first proposed it was called the Strategic Planning Bill. Maybe that's the tell. Strategic planning involves working out the "where" on a map with the "how" which is the infrastructure delivery programme. Again far too complex for a Labour Government staffed by a cadre of inexperienced Ministers to ever hope to get their heads around.But don't worry the ACT Party and our friends in the National Party are going to be able to restore the balance. We won't just be colouring in the colouring-in book like Labour have. We've got plans to deliver infrastructure to fund and finance it and to reform resource management law in New Zealand in a way that upholds private property rights guarantees customary rights to people who have them and allows Kiwis to get on the building. [Holds up document] And it's right here: ACT's solutions for building New Zealand and conserving nature. People watching at home or listening on the radio can download it at ACT.org.nz. I highly recommend it. It's a practical prescription for progress. That's what New Zealanders are asking for as we go into this election in October 2023—they're asking for practical solutions to problems. That's what ACT is offering. Thank you Madam Speaker."