The hectic pace of Government-initiated reform will result in poorly drafted legislation that will create a windfall for lawyers, warns National Party Environment spokesperson Scott Simpson.
Replacement draft legislation, such as for the Resource Management Act (RMA), lacks detail or an understanding of unintended consequences, he says, which will be determined by litigation.
“Either way the legislative changes coming at us like a steam train do not have that detail,” Simpson said.
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) acknowledges it has a heavy workload developing policy to reform the RMA, climate change, indigenous biodiversity and water.
Simpson says the Government appears to be taking the approach of passing legislation then fixing it later.
“Government departments and agencies tasked with doing the fine detail are hugely under-resourced and are trying to catch-up and keep up, which is leading to mistakes,” he said.
Data provided by the MfE reveals an almost doubling in staff and its operational budget in the last five years.
In 2016-17 it employed 340.9 people, rising to 491.8 in 2019-20 and 648 in 2020-21. Its operating budget has also almost doubled in five years, from $64 million in 2016-17 to $95.5m four years later and $123.5m in the last financial year.
“We expect staff numbers to increase again this financial year, as the Ministry continues to recruit to support its work programme,” a spokesperson said.
Some examples of the Ministry’s current workload include RMA reform, which is at the stage of consulting on an early draft of the Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA), the first of three laws to replace the RMA.
The Essential Freshwater package took effect last September, but finer details are still being discussed and changed.
The National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB) will give councils clear direction of their responsibilities and an exposure draft will be released in the coming months subject to Cabinet approval.
On climate change, the Ministry is consulting on a governance framework and reform of the industrial allocation for the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and it will soon consult on New Zealand’s first emissions reduction plan.
Environment Minister David Parker says the RMA is being reformed after widespread dissatisfaction and after a review initiated by the previous government.
“It is expected the NBE, and the companion law the Strategic Planning Act, will be passed in this term,” Parker said in a statement.
The freshwater reforms are designed to stop the degradation.
“There is strong public support for these aims,” he said.
“Improvements in water quality and ecosystem health over time are required in both urban and rural areas.”
Parker says concessions in the Essential Freshwater policy have been made to farming, including delays to the introduction of the intensive winter grazing regulations until May 2022, and he expects this year to see the quality of winter grazing practices improve and the quantity reduced.
