Across several months of announcements, various strands of the Government’s Resource Management Act (RMA) reform programme have progressed, and the direction of change has started to become more clear. However, many questions remain.

In this update we provide an overview of the recent developments and proposed changes, outline what is coming next, and set out the key dates to be aware of.

Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024

The Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act has now been passed into law. It makes a range of amendments to the RMA in relation to freshwater, coal mines, significant natural areas, farming practices and national direction processes. 

For our previous discussion of the Bill when first introduced, see our insights here.

The final Act includes several changes from the original Bill, including: 

• Applying to consent applications currently before consent authorities; 
• Changes to section 107 to soften the effect of recent court decisions; 
• A pause on freshwater farm plans; and 
• A last-minute bar on regional councils notifying freshwater plans and plan changes.

Those whose activities are likely to be enabled by these amendments may now act to take advantage of the amendments and consider how their existing practices might change. Regional councils who were about to notify freshwater plans will need to reassess their work programmes, and consent application processes and templates will need to be updated to reflect the changes discussed above and in our previous update, to ensure compliance. 

Resource Management (Extended Duration of Coastal Permits for Marine Farms) Amendment Act 2024

The recently enacted Resource Management (Extended Duration of Coastal Permits for Marine Farms) Amendment Act extended the duration of coastal permits for marine farms by up to 20 years.
Most can safely ignore this Act as its impact is largely limited to regional councils with marine farms operating in the region, and affected permit holders. Regional councils now have the opportunity to conduct reviews of the conditions attached to these permits. Any review must be commenced by 3 September 2026. Therefore, regional councils should be considering whether they need to undertake any reviews, and permit holders should be prepared to engage in any review that is commenced.

RMA Amendment Bill 2 

The Second RMA Amendment Bill will make further amendments to the RMA before it is replaced in full. These amendments are grouped into the following five baskets, and involve: 

• Infrastructure / energy: improvements to the designation process, simplifying the alternatives test, extending port coastal permits by 20 years, reducing renewable energy consenting time to one year, increasing lapse periods to 10 years for renewable energy, transmission and lines consents, and extending the default consent duration for renewables to 35 years
• Housing: allowing Tier 1 councils to opt-out of incorporating the medium density residential standards, introducing 30-year housing growth targets, removing the ability to use urban growth boundaries and changes to the heritage management system
• Farming / primary sector: amendments to section 70 of the RMA, which sets requirements for regional discharge rules, following recent court decisions and amendments to section 127 of the RMA to support aquaculture
• Natural hazards / emergency management: introducing new emergency response powers, providing for the refusal of land-use consents due to natural hazards, and providing  for natural hazard-related rules to have immediate legal effect from notification
• System improvements: ensuring efficient cost recovery  for councils, improvements to compliance and enforcement,  and technical changes to functions of DoC to enhance compliance and enforcement.

Given this Bill’s broad scope, anyone with an interest in the five baskets of change should keep an eye out for the submission period dates, which is expected to be in early 2025. Given the speed with which the Government intends to pass this Bill, there may be a limited period for submissions, so an early assessment of the Bill and its implications will be critical.

Overhaul of National Direction 

Accompanying Bill No 2 will be what is understood to be a complete ‘shake-up’ to our National Direction, with seven new pieces of National Direction and reviews of, and amendments to, 14 others. The Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024 includes a new ‘streamlined’ process for the Government to make these changes.

The changes are grouped into the same baskets as above, and will include:

• Infrastructure / energy: amendments to the NES-Telecommunications Facilities, new NPS-Infrastructure, potentially new NESs for different renewables, changes to various pieces of National Direction to enable quarrying, amendments to the NPS-Renewable Energy Generation  and amendments to the NPS-ET
• Housing: new NES for heritage management, amendments to NPS-UD, amendments to NPS-HPL, new national direction for housing targets, new NES-Minor Residential Units (ie granny flats), and new National Direction for papakāinga housing
• Farming / primary sector: various amendments to NES-Commercial Forestry, replacement  of NPS-Freshwater Management, amendments to NPS-Indigenous Biodiversity, review of Significant Natural Areas, further changes to national direction to provide clarification on drinking water standards, enabling vegetable growing and on-farm water storage.
• Natural hazards / emergency management: new NPS-Natural Hazards.

These changes are expected to progress on the same timeline as Bill No 2, which will make early 2025 a busy time for practitioners. Given National Direction drives what policy must be included in regional policy statements and regional and district plans, this review will be of huge significance to those operating in the RMA space. Our current experience is that the various documents contain plenty of conflict and uncertainty, and have proved a great source of frustration and litigation  over recent years. Given the broad range of National Direction to be amended or introduced, there is a real risk that an incoherent and overlapping framework will be produced if careful insight is not offered during consultation.

Engagement on Bill No 2 and any changes to national direction will be crucial in the wider context of the RMA reform programme. This is because the Government has indicated that the changes are expected to align with the future RMA replacement legislation and may inform future reform paving the way for a smooth transition. The extent to which this will be possible remains to be seen, given the National Direction overhaul will take place under the purpose of the RMA, and not the protection of property rights promised for the eventual replacement framework.

Offshore renewable energy regulatory regime

The Government is in the process of introducing a new two stage permit regime for offshore renewable energy projects. The regime will include seven year exclusive feasibility permits followed by 40 year commercial permits. The regime will not replace any existing consent requirements under the RMA and other legislation.

Those looking to progress offshore energy projects should be prepared to engage in consultation on the Bill, secondary legislation and guidance to implement the regime, during the first half of 2025, before preparing to apply for the first round of feasibility permits towards the end of 2025.

Potential applicants  should still consider any RMA consents or permits under other regimes that may be necessary for their projects and Councils should be prepared to engage in such consent processes, although given the timing they are likely to be under the RMA replacement legislation. A key remaining question about the offshore renewable energy regime is whether it provides enough certainty to attract investment, or whether further amendments should be made to provide a clear basis for operators to commit to offshore renewable energy projects in New Zealand.

Full RMA replacement

The Government recently announced some of the core tasks, principles and design features that will guide the development of its full replacement legislation for the RMA. 

The new system is intended to enable housing, business and primary sector growth as well as infrastructure development, while protecting the environment and human health, adapting to climate change, improving regulatory quality and upholding Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

Cabinet has agreed to 10 core design features, which are:

1. A Narrow scope focused on “actual effects” on the environment. 
2. Two acts - one focussed on managing environmental effects, the other on enabling development and infrastructure.
3. Strengthening and clarifying the role of environmental limits.
4. Greater use of national standards to reduce the need for resource consents.
5. Shifting focus from consenting to compliance.
6. Using spatial planning and simplified designation processes to enable infrastructure.
7. One plan per region.
8. Rapid, low-cost resolution between neighbours and with councils.
9. Upholding Treaty of Waitangi settlements and Crown obligations.
10. Faster, cheaper, less litigious processes contained in shorter, simpler, more accessible legislation.

An Expert Advisory Group has been established to prepare a “blueprint” for the new legislation and report that to Cabinet by Christmas. There will be some targeted engagement undertaken by officials alongside this Expert Advisory Group process. Beyond that point, consultation will primarily occur through the select committee process in the second half of 2025. 

There is no doubt that this is an ambitious timetable, and a key question will be how much of the former Government’s replacement RMA legislation, or indeed the RMA itself, will be retained to achieve the current Government’s intention of passing the replacement legislation by the next election. What is certain is that interested parties will need to be ready to engage in a select committee process with relatively short timeframes, which for complex and important legislation will likely garner much criticism and contention.

Whilst providing some broad insight into the future direction of reform, these 10 features leave many questions for the Expert Advisory Group including:

• What is an “actual effect”? This issue is likely to be determinative of the scope of the new framework.
• Will the recommendation for the two Acts survive? The Government has indicated a “double bottom line” approach but how this will work in practice remains to be seen.
• How will a shift in focus towards compliance be funded? Will local authorities pick up a growing unfunded mandate or is there an appetite to provide additional funding or support, perhaps through the Environmental Protection Authority?
• What will the use of spatial planning to enable infrastructure look like? Will this be a strengthened form of the designation process or is something more envisaged?
• Whilst one plan per region is a good idea, how will the roles of local authorities be structured and supported to enable efficient planning processes?
• How will the framework enable climate adaptation including managed retreat, or work with any eventual climate adaptation Act? As we highlighted in a recent update, there has been limited progress from the Government on the direction of climate adaptation policy.

Fast-track Approvals Bill

Last but certainly not least, the Fast-track Approvals Bill will create a one-stop shop fast-track consenting pathway for projects of regional or national significance. You can read our previous coverage of the Bill when introduced here and some suggested improvements here. The Bill was recently reported back from the select committee process with a host of changes which you can read about in our latest update here. The Government also recently announced 149 projects that will be included in the Bill. 

The Bill is expected to be passed into law before the end of 2024. Those with projects listed in the Bill should begin preparing applications to be lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority. For others currently looking to consent large projects, conventional consent processes may be a better option for now as we expect it will take expert panels a few years to get through the 149 listed projects making the process unlikely to be available to other applicants for some time, although exceptions will still be possible. 
For ongoing coverage and insights on the Fast-track Approvals Bill keep an eye out for our series of updates.

Key dates

The following table sets out the current state of play of dates that have been announced, or indicated, by Government.

Reform	Further information/Links	Key dates
Fast-track Approvals Bill	Our discussion of the Bill when first introduced. Our initial suggestions to enhance the Bill. Our recent thoughts on the Bill as reported back from Select Committee. The Select Committee report and latest version of the Bill. The list of projects to be included in the Bill.	Select Committee Report - 18 October. Enacted into law - end of 2024.
Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024	Our discussion of the Bill when first introduced. The Select Committee report.  Amendment paper to make the last-minute change. The Act.	Enacted into law - 25 October 2024.
Resource Management (Extended Duration of Coastal Permits for Marine Farms) Amendment Act 2024	The Act.	Enacted into law - 2 September 2024. Deadline for councils to initiate reviews of conditions - 3 September 2026.
RMA Amendment Bill 2	Announcement of the Bill. For further details on specific aspects see:  - Energy - Primary sector - Forestry - Housing - Significant Natural Areas	Bill introduced - December 2024. Select committee - first quarter 2025. Expected to be enacted into law - mid-2025.
National direction overhaul	Announcement of the overhaul.  For further details on specific aspects see:  - Energy - Primary sector - Forestry - Housing - Significant Natural Areas	To follow the same timeframe as the RMA Amendment Bill 2. Proposals introduced - December 2024. Consultation - first quarter 2025. National direction finalised - mid-2025.
Offshore energy permit regime	Further details of the proposed regime.	Introduction of Bill - end of 2024. Select committee - first quarter 2025. Secondary legislation and guidance development - first half 2025. Enacted into law - mid-2025. Secondary legislation enacted and guidance finalised - mid-2025. First feasibility round - late 2025. First feasibility permits granted - 2026.
Full RMA Replacement	Announcement about the direction for the full RMA replacement. Cabinet paper discussing the proposed approach.	Expert Advisory Group to provide Cabinet with a “blueprint” for new legislation - December 2024. Legislative drafting - first half of 2025. Bills introduced - mid-2025. Select Committee - second half 2025. Enacted into law - mid-2026.

 

Special thanks to Jack Apperley for his assistance in writing this article.