The Government’s RMA reforms are so bad they are putting at risk the ability for New Zealand to meet its climate change ambitions, National’s RMA Reform and Urban Development spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“Contact Energy yesterday told the Environment Committee that the RMA reforms were the ‘single biggest threat’ to new renewables and that without ‘urgent change’ New Zealand could ‘kiss goodbye’ decarbonisation of the energy sector.

“Contact’s comments that the proposed new laws are a ‘boon to consultants and lawyers; it is what they would call a dripping roast with bookable hours written all over it’, should be a wake-up call for a government that purports to be making it easier to get things done but will do the opposite.

“Contact’s submission follows a negative submission by the Wind Energy Association two weeks ago, which said that new wind farms would be harder to consent under the reforms rather than easier, and the Electricity Sector Environment Group which said the proposed new laws were currently ‘unworkable’.

“How can it be that after five years, the Government has produced RMA reform which will put at risk our decarbonisation goals? This is an embarrassing own goal for Labour that has always been long on ambition, and short on practical reality.

“New Zealand needs proper RMA reform that makes it easier to consent new wind, geothermal, hydro and solar plants, which will be critical in meeting our climate goals. We are uniquely blessed by abundant renewable resources, and we should be taking advantage of them, not making it harder.”

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