RMA - You Can't Tune A Blown Engine

Thursday 13 May 2004 - Ken Shirley

The Labour Government's continued statements to tune up, not trade, in the Resource Management Act are nothing but meaningless and hollow promises, ACT New Zealand Deputy Leader Ken Shirley said today.

"In the final stages of the last National Government, Simon Upton brought to Parliament 12 key amendments to the RMA process. All were necessary, but collectively insufficient," Mr Shirley said.

"These amendments represented fine tunings of the process, but failed to overcome the fundamental flaws inherent in the RMA's framework.

"The incoming Labour Government abandoned all of those sensible changes, and instead became captured by Green and Maori interest groups proposing senseless obligations like cultural landscapes.

"Business interests have been calling for substantial changes to the RMA for many years - but both the previous government and this Labour Government have failed to respond.

"The RMA is fundamentally flawed and its basic premises need to be re-examined. The Act should be confined to the management of natural and physical resources, and all attempts at addressing the cultural and metaphysical should be dropped along with its all-embracing attempts at social engineering.

"It attempts to do too much and fails miserably," Mr Shirley said.

ENDS

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