RMA changes welcome, but must go further

Responding to the Government’s announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said:

“These changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable red tape but they don’t go far enough.

“While we welcome the removal of the requirement on consent applicants to demonstrate compliance with the Te Mana o te Wai hierarchy of obligations, the Government must go further and remove all references to Te Mana o te Wai altogether.

“Te Mana o te Wai is vague and ill-defined, going so far as to mean different things in different parts of the country, depending on the local iwi or hāpu. We have serious concerns about councils continuing to waste money on work to uphold Te Mana o te Wai, even it it is not required by law. We are writing to Minister Bishop seeking clarification on a number of issues related to this and urge his Government to issue a direction to councils halting all work on this issue."