Mixed reactions to RMA changes
Farmers have welcomed changes to the controversial Resource Management Act announced last week, but opposition leaders have called it short-sighted.
Last week, the Government announced the first RMA Amendment Bill with the intention of reducing the regulatory burden on councils and consent applicants.
Among the changes are amendments to stock exclusion regulations, a repeal of intensive winter grazing regulations, a three-year suspension on identifying new Significant Natural Areas, streamlining of mining consent processes, and changes to consenting requirements under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.
Federated Farmers freshwater spokesperson Colin Hurst called it “the end of the war on farming”.
“These impractical rules have been a complete nightmare since the day they were introduced and farmers will be pleased to see the back of them,” he said.
“Farmers are always looking to improve environmental outcomes on their properties and to care for the land, but regulation needs to be practical, pragmatic and affordable.”
The regulations had been amended multiple times over the past three years, confusing farmers and undermining their confidence to invest, Hurst said. Farmers were New Zealand’s leading conservationists, and should be empowered to improve practices, instead of being tied up in “needless red tape”.
This is a sentiment Southern Wood Council chairperson Grant Dodson agrees with. “We take conservation seriously,” he said, adding that there were some endangered species thriving in areas where forestry occurred despite being extinct elsewhere. “These species haven’t survived forestry, they’ve survived because of forestry.”
Dodson, who had been outspoken against the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity’s unclear definition of Significant Natural Areas in the past, said pausing the process of designating these areas offered a chance to take this into account when rules were being reset. “We know we can co-exist with them pretty well and that’s what needs to be acknowledged.”
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said improving primary sector profitability was key to boosting our largest exporting sector. “Regulations need to be fit for purpose and not place unnecessary costs on farmers and growers.”
Farmers have described winter grazing regulations, in particular, as unworkable, and McClay said focusing on farm-level and regionally suitable solutions would reduce costs for farmers.
“Importantly, effective non-regulatory measures are already in place to support the continued improvement of winter grazing practices going forward,” he said.
“Regional councils tell us there have been significant improvements in winter grazing practices, with farmers changing where they plant fodder crops and how they manage winter grazing.”
But the Labour Party’s environment spokesperson, Rachel Brooking, said the short-sighted changes would take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits. “These changes are being pushed through fast to avoid public scrutiny. They will water down rules that prevent our rivers from being polluted, and our native species [from] being protected.”
Green Party environment spokesperson Lan Pham called the changes “environmental mismanagement”. “Winding back freshwater protections will accelerate the demise of one of our most precious natural resources,” she said, adding that 45% of New Zealand’s rivers were unsuitable for swimming because of campylobacter infection risk. It was estimated only 10% of New Zealand’s historic wetlands remained, while 68% of indigenous freshwater birds were threatened with extinction or at risk of becoming threatened as of 2021, Pham said.
The Resource Management Amendment Bill (RM Bill 1) is expected to be introduced to Parliament this month and passed into law later in the year.