Resource Management Act 1991
The Resource Management Act (RMA) passed in 1991 in New Zealand is a significant, and at times, controversial Act of Parliament. The RMA promotes the sustainable management of natural and physical resources such as land, air and water. New Zealand's Ministry for the Environment describes the RMA as New Zealand's principal legislation for environmental management.[1]
Resource Management Act 1991
The RMA and the decisions made under it by district and regional councils and in courts affect both individuals and businesses in large numbers, and often in very tangible ways. The Act has variously been attacked for being ineffective in managing adverse environmental effects, or overly time-consuming and expensive and concerned with bureaucratic restrictions on legitimate economic activities.[2]
The Sixth Labour Government replaced the RMA with two separate acts: the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 (NBA), and the Spatial Planning Act 2023 (SPA);[3][4] and planned to add the Climate Change Adaptation Bill (CAA).[5] Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, the National-led coalition government repealed Labour's NBA and SPA legislation. It also promised to reform the RMA and eventually replace it with new resource management laws.[6]
Significance[edit]
The adoption of the RMA was significant for three reasons. Firstly, the RMA established one integrated framework that replaced the many previous resource-use regimes, which had been fragmented between agencies and sectors, such as land use, forestry, pollution, traffic, zoning, water and air.[7]
Secondly, the RMA was the first statutory planning regime to incorporate the principle of sustainability.[8]
Thirdly, the RMA incorporated 'sustainable management', as an explicitly stated purpose placed at the heart of the regulatory framework[9] and this purpose is to direct all other policies, standards, plans and decision-making under the RMA.[10] Having the purpose of the RMA at the apex of an unambiguous legislative hierarchy was a unique concept worldwide at the time of the law's inception.[11]
Related legislations[edit]
The RMA replaced a large number of acts, regulations and orders. A total of 59 Acts and amended Acts were repealed (see RMA Sixth Schedule), and nineteen regulations and orders were revoked (Seventh Schedule). The notable acts repealed were the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 and the Town and Country Planning Act 1977.[12] The mining and minerals regime was separated from the Resource Management Bill at the third reading stage and was enacted as the Crown Minerals Act 1991.[13]
However, three of these statutes, provided important elements of the RMA. The Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941 provided the precedent for catchment-based entities and catchment boards became part of the new regional councils. The Town and Country Planning Act 1977 provided the consenting and planning procedures.[14] The Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 provided the consenting regime and case law for water.[15]
Resource Management Law Reform[edit]
In the 1987 election the fourth Labour Government won a second term in office and deputy prime minister Geoffrey Palmer became the Minister for the Environment. Palmer initiated a comprehensive reform project for New Zealand's environmental and planning laws. This was the Resource Management Law Reform or RMLR. Palmer's objectives explicitly included giving effect to the Treaty of Waitangi, cost-effective use of resources, the World Conservation Strategy, intergenerational equity, and intrinsic values of ecosystems. Palmer chaired a Cabinet committee supervising a core group of four people supported by the Ministry for the Environment. The core group developed policy through a series of 32 working papers and through extensive public consultation. In December 1988, the reform proposals were published. In December 1989, Palmer introduced the 314-page Resource Management Bill to the Parliament of New Zealand. The Select Committee process was not completed by the election of 1990, which Labour lost. However, the new National Minister for the Environment, Simon Upton, continued the law reform process leading to the enactment of the RMA.[18]
Rod Oram's paper 'The RMA now and in the future', presented at the 2007 Beyond the RMA conference assessed the RMA's performance over its first 16 years. The paper's main conclusions were the following:
The National Party, when in opposition to the government, made a promise to reform the RMA during the 2008 election campaign. After winning the election a reform group was announced. They were given the following terms of reference:[60]
In February 2009 the National-led Government announced the "Resource Management (Simplify and Streamline) Amendment Bill 2009" aimed at:[61]
Local Government New Zealand said in its submission to the local government and environment select committee that some of the changes designed to simplify and streamline the Resource Management Act were not well thought out and may actually create more delays and increase costs.[62]
ECO considered that the Bill will hinder the input from communities and to favour large projects. It would also fast-track large developments and make little difference to smaller projects, a similar situation to the controversial National Development Act (repealed in 1986).[63]
In 2013, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright criticised planned amendments to the Act, saying it "is not, and should not become, an economic development act".[64][65]
Fast-tracking projects in COVID-19 recovery plan[edit]
As part of planning for economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister for the Environment announced on 3 May 2020 that the Government would amend the law to allow fast-tracking of selected projects through the RMA.[66] The resource consent applications for the selected projects will be processed by an Expert Consenting Panel that is chaired by a current or retired Environmental Court Judge or senior lawyer. Each Panel will have a person nominated by the relevant local councils and a person nominated by the relevant iwi authorities.
Consenting Panels will issue decisions within 25 working days after receiving comments on the application although this could be increased to 50 days for large scale projects. Existing Treaty of Waitangi settlements will be upheld, as will sustainable management and existing RMA national direction. Appeal rights will be limited to points of law and/or judicial review to the High Court, with one further right of appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The announcement was welcomed by the industry body Infrastructure New Zealand. In a statement on 4 May, the Chief Executive said that “the RMA has become a litigious, cumbersome, and complex piece of legislation. It was never intended to be applied the way it has been, and it was not designed to facilitate recovery from something like the COVID-19 lockdown”.[67]
The Chief Executive of the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, responsible for national oversight of infrastructure planning and investment, called for wide-ranging improvements to environmental planning, including more focus on long-term needs, more integrated decision making and institutional reform.[68]
Replacement efforts[edit]
Sixth Labour government, 2020–2023[edit]
In 2020 a comprehensive independent review of New Zealand's resource management system was undertaken. This report is named the 'Randerson report', after the Court of Appeal Judge, Hon Tony Randerson, who led the review. The review identified issues with the current system, and concluded that the system cannot cope with current pressures. These pressures include high population growth and the lack of accommodating development, diminishing biodiversity, the degradation of nature, and the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The report also made several recommendations. The primary of which was the repeal and replacement of the RMA.[69]
On 10 February 2021, the Sixth Labour Government confirmed that the Resource Management Act will be replaced by three separate acts. This announcement follows many of the Randerson Report's recommendations. The three new acts will be the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 (NBA), the Spatial Planning Act 2023 (SPA), and the Climate Change Adaptation Bill (CAA). The acts are to be drafted, notified and implemented over the next three years.[70]
In June 2021, the Government released an 'exposure draft' of the Natural and Built Environment Bill, to enable two rounds of public consultation.[71][72]
In mid November 2022, the Government introduced the NBA and the SPA as part of its first steps to replace the Resource Management Act. The NBA establishes a National Planning Framework (NPF) setting out rules for land use and regional resource allocation. The NPF also replaces the Government's policy statements on water, air quality and other issues with an umbrella framework. Under the framework of the NPF, all 15 regions will be required to develop a Natural and Built Environment Plan (NBE) that will replace the 100 district and regional plans, harmonising consenting and planning rules. An independent national Māori entity will also be established to provide input into the NPF and ensure compliance with the Treaty of Waitangi's provisions. The Spatial Planning Bill will deal with long-term planning. Local committees will be required to develop 30-year regional spatial strategies (RSS). These strategies will be informed by the NPF and will help the regions decide their NBEs.[73][74] In response, the opposition National and ACT parties criticised the two replacement bills on the grounds that it created more centralisation, bureaucracy, and did little to reform the problems associated with the RMA process. The Green Party expressed concerns about the perceived lack of environment protections in the two bills.[75][76]
The Natural and Built Environment and Spatial Planning Acts passed their third readings on 15 August 2023, and received royal assent on 23 August.[3][4]
Sixth National Government, 2023–present[edit]
Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, the NBA and SPA laws were repealed by the National-led coalition government, which passed the Resource Management (Natural and Built Environment and Spatial Planning Repeal and Interim Fast-track Consenting) Act 2023 on 19 December 2023.[77][6]
On 23 April 2024, the RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop announced that the Government's RMA replacement legislation would remove intensive winter grazing regulations, low-slope map from stock exclusion regulations, suspend the requirement for local councils to identify new Significant Natural Areas for three years, eliminate the requirement for resource consents to comply with the "Te Mana o te Wai hierarchy of obligations," and ease coal mining restrictions.[78]