RMA reforms set to progress with Maori Party support

The Government and the Maori Party have struck a deal to back the final stage of Resource Management Act reforms, despite a last-ditch bid from other parties to provide a better offer.

The announcement sets the scene for the controversial Resource Legislation Amendment Bill, intended to speed up planning and consent laws, to soon pass into law after years of delays.

In a statement yesterday, Maori Party co-leaders Marama Fox and Te Ururoa Flavell announced they had reached agreement to support the final stages of the legislation.

‘‘We’ve worked hard on the outcomes to reach an agreement that we are satisfied with,’’ Flavell said.

The Government and the Maori Party announced a deal last November to move ahead with the RMA reforms, after reaching agreement on changes to give Maori greater involvement in the consenting process.

However, the Maori Party subsequently took issue with section 360D of the bill, which could let the Government overrule local councils’ bans on genetically modified organisms, writing to Environment Minister Nick Smith to raise their concerns.

Fox and Flavell did not comment on whether they had won any changes to that section in exchange for their renewed support.

Earlier in the day, ACT and UnitedFuture made an attempt to hijack the negotiations with an alternative offer to support the RMA changes in exchange for several changes.

Dunne said he and Seymour had made the same offer about a year ago, but wanted to repeat it as uncertainty over the RMA bill’s fate ‘‘has become even more rife’’.

‘‘There are a number of things in the act that everybody recognises needs to be changed, but that change process has been halted simply because of an obstinacy on the part of the Government.’’