The Primary Production Committee is calling for submissions on the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. The bill would amend rules around resource consenting, the implementation of significant natural areas (SNAs) and setting national direction under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). A more detailed list of policies in the bill is available below.

The Government has announced that it intends to progress reforms of the RMA in three phases. This bill represents the first phase of reform, and addresses particular issues the Government considers time-sensitive. The Government has indicated that it intends to propose more comprehensive reform of the RMA to Parliament in due course.

The Primary Production Committee therefore intends to focus its work on this bill on the particular issues in the bill (see the list below). This means the committee does not plan to hear oral submissions on issues that are not relevant to the content of the bill. Prospective submitters are encouraged to take this into account when making their submissions.

Significant aspects of the bill include:

• Excluding the hierarchy of obligations (known as Te Mana o Te Wai) within the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 from resource consent applications and decision-making processes

• Removing additional controls for coal mining consents, aligning consent pathways with those for other mineral extraction activities

• Extending the time for councils to identify and implement new SNAs until December 2030 • Removing low slope land requirements regulating the access of farm animals to water bodies • Reducing resource consent requirements relating to intensive winter grazing • Expediting the creation or amendment of national direction under the RMA.

Tell the Primary Production Committee what you think

Make a submission on the bill by midnight on Sunday 30 June.

For more details about the bill:

• Read the full content of the bill
• Get more details about the bill
• What’s been said in Parliament about the bill?

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