RIP to the RMA

Governments have been trying to repeal the Resource Management Act for 14 years and it’s very nearly buried. Today, David Parker will unveil the final details of its replacement

Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, November 15, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: unions line up to launch fair pay bids; proposal to lower speed limits on 4% of state highway network; 40% of New Zealanders can not afford dental care; but first, David Parker to unveil regime that will replace RMA today

The burial of the RMA gets closer to completion with today’s announcement on the regime that will replace it (Photo: Getty Images)

Tripling in size since its introduction, the RMA almost has both feet in the grave

Passed in 1991, the Resource Management Act (RMA) was a world first, designed to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources. The RMA was introduced in 1989 by Sir Geoffrey Palmer as a 314 page bill; the Act is now over 900 pages long. Successive governments have been trying to reform it since 2008. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern described it as a “patchwork that isn’t working any more” at a recent Business NZ function. Today, after months of delays, we will get the final details of the RMA’s replacement. Three bills will take its place - the Natural and Built Environment bill, the Spatial Planning Bill and the Climate Adaptation Bill, which is expected to be introduced in 2023. 

Big day for David Parker who’s “barely come up for air from RMA reforms”

The RMA and its reform is at the axis of some of the biggest issues of our time - housing, infrastructure development, environmental protection and climate change adaptation. The reform has been environment minister David Parker’s baby. As Audrey Young writes in this recent performance evaluation of ministers (paywalled), Parker has “barely come up for air from RMA reforms”. Climate change minister James Shaw cited the RMA reform as one of the major planks of policy “coming into place” for New Zealand to be on the right side of history before he headed to Cop27. Whatever’s announced, you can expect the opposition will have a reaction at the ready. Last week’s pizza and policy session (paywalled) for the National party involved a paper on the RMA from environment spokesman Scott Simpson. 

“A faster, cheaper, better” version of the RMA

Criticisms of the RMA over the years could easily fill 900 pages. Ultimately, while many still endorse the spirit of the Act in its protection of the environment, it also hasn’t protected it enough. It’s also been partly blamed for the current housing shortage in New Zealand, stymying development with long and cumbersome processes. As the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan writes, deputy prime minister Grant Roberson said yesterday the legislation would save users of the resource management system 19% a year, “about $149m a year”. We know co- governance is off the table, that there’s a focus on early decision-making and streamlining the number of resource management plans produced by local government (from more than 100 to 14), and that it will involve more direction at a national level.

Salmon farm consent will number among Act’s final rides

As the sun sets on one of our most significant and controversial pieces of legislation, we will be able to count consent for open water salmon farms among the Act’s final rides. Bulletin readers should be familiar with my unusual interest in salmon and might recall the 1,300 tonnes of salmon that died at a Marlborough Sounds salmon farm due to an oceanic heat wave. Back in July, New Zealand King Salmon chief executive Grant Rosewarne said a bespoke piece of legislation, rather than the lengthy RMA process, would’ve likely saved the salmon and their business. New Zealand King Salmon has finally been granted consent to establish two open water farms (paywalled) in cooler waters after a three-year resource consent process. It’s a long-awaited win for sustainable aquaculture and climate adaptation, and one of the many examples of why few will mourn the Act’s demise.

Finding the cultural balance in a multicultural whānau

When Elisa Rivera had her first child, she worried about how best to teach him about both his Puerto Rican and Māori cultures. Now, five years later, her son and younger daughter know bits and pieces of Spanish, and through their kaiako at school, are learning te reo Māori too – passing kupu, waiata and even karakia on to their parents. Read more of her story, in partnership with Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Māori on The Spinoff now.

“An avalanche” of fair pay applications expected to be made over the next few months

As Stuff’s Anna Whyte reports, many sectors are already prepared to get their applications for fair pay agreements through on December 1. First Union’s Louisa Jones said bus driver and supermarket retail union members wanted to initiate the process and put in applications as soon as possible. E tū are preparing an application for security guards and commercial cleaning workers, while Unite is leading the fair pay agreement process for the hospitality industry. Workplace relations minister Michael Wood said he expected it to take about a year to negotiate fair pay agreements, while National’s workplace relations spokesperson Paul Goldsmith said he was “not yet convinced there’ll be any conclusions before the election”. National has promised to repeal the Fair Pay Agreement legislation.

Proposal to lower speed limits on 4% of our state highway network

I read this headline: “NZTA proposes sweeping state highway speed limit decreases” and assumed Waka Kotahi had slammed the brakes on the entire New Zealand roading network, imposing a lowered speed limit absolutely everywhere. That would indeed be news. Waka Kotahi is proposing to lower speed limits on just over 500 km of state highway in 440 locations, which equates to around 4% of the 11,000 km state highway network. It is also proposing speed limit changes outside 269 schools, and 11 marae where they are adjacent to the state highway. To take an example on schools, the proposal includes changing speed limits outside three schools in Auckland. The agency's Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan is open for consultation until December 12.

“Tooth be told” report paints painful picture of dental care in NZ

A contender for report title of the year, “Tooth be told” is the latest entry in the canon of indictments of the nation’s dental health and dental care affordability. Commissioned by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and supported by Auckland City Mission - Te Tāpui Atawhai, the new report finds 40% of New Zealanders can not afford dental care. A quarter of million New Zealanders have teeth pulled each year as a result of decay. If you’re slightly squeamish, maybe don’t read this next line, but some survey respondents reported pulling their own teeth with a wrench when a tooth caused severe pain. The senior dentists union is calling for free universal dental care. Always good to be reminded of this fact from Helen Glenny’s comprehensive assessment of the rotten state of our teeth: “Even in the much-maligned US health-care system, 77% of Americans have access to funded dental care.”

Click and collect

• “Thank you. The signing ceremony of legal documents on co-operation between Viet Nam and Australia has come to an end” - fulsome and colourful reporting on Ardern’s first day in Viet Nam from Stuff’s Thomas Manch

• Government extends Ukraine deployments and aid funding

• Police are now responding to one family violence call every three minutes, up 47% on five years ago - questions remain about whether incidents are on the rise or whether more people are reporting them

• First face-to-face meeting between US president and Xi Jinping since 2017 - climate talks to resume, candid discussion of Taiwan

• While you were sleeping…the global population hit 8 billion (according to the United Nations' best estimates). There are 250 babies born per minute so keep counting upwards from there.

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.

If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.

Right now on The Spinoff:

George Weeks explains how while free car parking and toll-free roads might seem good, they're really just costing drivers in other ways. Christina Laalaai-Tausa says climate change is a harsh reality in Samoa – and the world's leaders need to face it. Writers from around Aotearoa pay tribute to the late Wellington poet / legend Geoff Cochrane. Mad Chapman can't stop thinking about Joanah Ngan-Woo’s World Cup-winning left hand. Toby Manhire risks allegations of "tokenism" by suggesting we get behind New Zealand's men's rugby team – maybe even let them play a curtain-raiser for the Black Ferns.