National will repeal Labour’s RMA replacement bills by Christmas 2023 if elected on October 14, National’s RMA Reform and Urban Development spokesperson Chris Bishop says.

“The Labour Government has spent six years working on RMA reform but has managed to design a complex new regime that will make it even harder to get things done and actually make our planning framework worse than the mess it is now.

“The Government’s new bills will increase bureaucracy, remove local decision-making, and put our decarbonisation goals at risk. It will stymie the investment and sustainable development of the environment that New Zealand needs, including in renewable electricity generation.

“The new bills will also significantly increase legal complexity and litigation. New Zealand simply cannot afford the extensive litigation that the bills will inevitably produce.

“We can all agree the RMA needs fixing, but the new framework must actually improve things and be worth the considerable cost of change. What the Government has come up with is not the solution.

“Submitters to the Environment Select Committee lashed the new RMA regime, with many submitters telling the Government to slow down and start again. But the Government has ignored them.

“National is committing to repealing the RMA replacement acts by Christmas. It is important that the acts are wiped from the statute books as soon as possible so the army of officials currently working on the transition to the new regime can down tools.

“National will campaign on our own changes to the RMA, some of which we have already announced, including one-year consenting for major infrastructure and renewable energy projects, alongside our Going for Housing Growth plan. If elected, we will legislate for these in our first term.

“We will also begin work on a longer-term programme to repeal and replace the RMA.”

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