EDS submission on Resource Management Reform Bill

The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has filed its submission on the Resource Management Amendment Bill 2019 with the Environment Select Committee of Parliament.

“We are broadly supportive of the proposed amendments, many of which roll back bad changes made last year,” said EDS CEO Gary Taylor.

“The Bill removes provisions giving Ministers excessive powers and repeals provisions that many submitters to the previous Bill considered unworkable. It also creates a new plan-making process for freshwater reform. We support those provisions and most of the technical changes proposed.

“EDS has made suggestions for other amendments to be added to the Bill including:

• The creation of a Freshwater Commission to provide implementation oversight for freshwater planning
• Giving the Environment Court power to decide notification appeals
• Widening the Minister for the Environment’s ability to call-in plans to include regional policy statements
• Enabling resource consent applications by recidivist RMA offenders to be refused
• Including climate change mitigation in section 6 as a matter of national importance
• Further changes to better enable public participation in resource management processes.

“EDS will be appearing in support of its submission,” Mr Taylor concluded.

The EDS submission is available here.

Submissions on the Bill are due on 7 November.