The path to reforming the RMA

Over the years, successive governments have acknowledged the need to reform the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), to cut the red tape and time taken to approve new homes and infrastructure projects and to better protect the environment. On this path, the Government has embarked on its three phased approach to reforming the RMA.

Phase One saw the repeal in late 2023 of the previous government’s RMA reforms. Phase Two began in 2024 with the Fast-Track Approvals Bill enacted to speed up the delivery of infrastructure projects with regional or nationally significant benefits. This was followed by two RMA amendment Bills. The first, the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, was passed into law in October 2024 to help reduce the regulatory burden on key sectors including farming, mining, and other primary industries.

The second RMA amendment Bill, the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill (Bill), is at the Select Committee stage with its report due 17 June this year. This Bill proposes changes in the short-term, prior to the full replacement of the RMA, covering five categories – some of the key changes are summarised below.

Infrastructure and energy – to make it easier to consent renewable energy activities:
• A one-year decision making process would be required to reduce delays in consents.
• A default 35-year consent duration period would be established (including for long-lived infrastructure) to increase certainty and reduce costs for operators.

Housing growth – reforms to enable the Government’s housing growth targets include:
• New intervention powers for the Minister for the Environment, to ensure councils comply with national direction, including housing and business development capacity assessments.
• Simplifying the planning processes for listing or delisting heritage buildings and structures.

Farming and primary sector – unlocking primary sector productivity through:
• Clarifying the relationship between the RMA and Fisheries Act 1996 by introducing definitions and restrictions on rules that control fishing, reducing the regulatory overlap between them.
• Enabling industry bodies to deliver freshwater farm plan certification and audit services, making this more practical and cost-effective.
• Reducing delays in consenting for wood processing facilities by requiring resource consents to be processed within one year of application.

Natural hazards and emergencies – to improve decision making and efficiency:
• The Governor General would be empowered to make emergency response regulations to respond to natural hazard events and emergency situations, and to enable recovery efforts.
• Clarifying and strengthening councils’ powers to decline land use consents, or impose relevant conditions, where the natural hazard risk is significant.
• New rules relating to natural hazards would have immediate legal effect, from notification.

System improvements – proposed amendments include:
• Simplifying the consenting regime by clarifying the scope of further information requests, to ensure these are not overly onerous on applicants.
• Specifying that applicants can request to review consent conditions prior to a decision being issued.
• Increased penalties for non-compliance, and removing the ability to insure against penalties.

Phase Three will see the RMA replaced with two new acts to be introduced by the end of 2025, one to manage environmental effects from activities that use natural resources, the other to enable urban development and infrastructure.