National has a two phase approach and will move in its first 100 days to make several initial changes to the RMA, but has been much vaguer on policy detail than its determination to make quick changes might suggest. Phase One changes will seek to reduce costs, delays and uncertainties in the Act, and will be passed within six months of National taking office. Among the few specifics to be gleaned from National’s policy announcements are provisions to “simplify the Act” (no detail as yet); require Priority Consents be granted within nine months; remove the Ministerial veto on coastal consents; prevent vexatious objections; and simplify resource management plans.

Also in phase one is a radical change to the role of the Environmental Risk Management Authority, which currently regulates hazardous substances and new organisms. ERMA will be reconstituted as the Environmental Protection Agency with wide powers relating to the RMA. Currently headed by former SIS director Richard Woods, it looks as if ERMA’s current board will require some new appointments to make it competent to deal with major RMA questions, compared to its current more limited brief, although its autonomous, quasi-judicial status gives it a useful legislative framework from which to develop new decision-making powers.
National says the new EPA will be responsible for: national regulatory functions of the RMA, including priority consenting, developing National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards, as well as its existing responsibilities.

Phase Two RMA changes will take longer and will require “a wider review” of the Act to: improve compensation for landowners under
the Public Works Act to make infrastructure projects easier to achieve - surely a nod in the direction of Waikato farmers who fought to oppose the essential upgrade to the national grid to Auckland; consider new water allocation processes to make freshwater management fairer and more efficient - a big challenge for National to manage its dairy farming constituency, which remains worryingly negative on its responsibilities for water quality in streams and rivers; exploring new approaches to urban planning to encourage more collaboration between planners and developers. Those words “consider” and “explore” tend to suggest National’s thinking is still evolving in these areas, and there may be more bark than bite here.

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