This week ACT MP Mark Cameron is lodging a new member’s bill to restore longstanding provisions to the Resource Management Act that prohibit regional councils from considering climate change as a factor in their plans.

“Currently, councils can use the Resource Management Act to impose a patchwork of restrictions on the way Kiwis use their land, all in the name of reducing emissions," says Mr Cameron.

“This was the result of amendments to the RMA progressed under the previous Government. Property rights were sacrificed to the climate gods, in a way that wouldn’t even reduce net emissions.

"It’s not feasible to have regional councils trying to save the world’s climate. In fact, it’s hopeless, because emissions are already managed nationally under the Emissions Trading Scheme. If one council cracks down on emissions, it just pushes carbon-intensive activity someplace else. And councils aren’t equipped to consider carbon offsets that businesses might have in other parts of the country.

"The Resource Management (National and Regional Emissions) Amendment Bill will reintroduce prohibitions on regional councils considering local greenhouse gas emissions.

"It’s about getting local government back to basics and stopping councils feeling like they need to supress local productive activity like farming for the sake of the planet.

"ACT has long said the most cost-effective way to manage emissions is through nationally co-ordinated carbon pricing, technological innovation, and international action – not complex land use restrictions via the Resource Management Act.

"This bill is just another way to allow farmers and people working on the land to get on with what they do best, without needless layers of bureaucracy and council diktats."

© Scoop Media