Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: RMA reform timeline unveiled, warning about avoiding the water after an earthquake, and Green MP explains why he went back to Mexico. It’s not exactly breaking news, but the repealing and replacing of the Resource Management Act is going to be among the biggest things … Read more
The Resource Management Act is set to be repealed and replaced by three new bits of legislation. Alex Braae explains what has been announced this morning. What’s all this then? The Resource Management Act is on the way out. New Zealand’s primary bit of planning legislation was born 30 years ago and has aged rapidly … Read more
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest. In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her party’s priorities for the … Read more
The Greens’ statement on RMA reform is the first clear, leadership-endorsed sign of what it will and won’t support in a second Labour-Green government, writes Pattrick Smellie for BusinessDesk. Throughout the current parliamentary term, the Greens have been very well-behaved. Co-leader James Shaw’s brief and unhappy attempt to hold ministers to ransom over government funding … Read more
Ngāti Tūwharetoa has just become the first iwi to be approved under the Resource Management Act to take over certain council duties. Here’s why that matters. In 1991, the Resource Management Act (RMA) allowed councils to transfer any of their functions to local iwi. Now, almost 30 years after that act was passed, the first … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: For and against a massive new hydro storage scheme, major new report delivered on RMA reforms, and Greens and NZ First at odds over waka-jumping repeal. For a lead story today, a look at some of the benefits and challenges of a major potential infrastructure … Read more
A comprehensive proposed shake-up of the Resource Management Act has gained support from the business community and multiple parties. Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk reports on what it might involve. After 29 years of argument and increasing complexity, the Resource Management Act needs to be split in two and the overlapping patchwork of competing of regional … Read more
National’s new leader made her first big appearance in front of a crowd today, announcing her party’s $31 billion infrastructure policy. What got the biggest applause? It was standing room only (due to a lack of seats) at Judith Collins’ big policy address in central Auckland this morning. After a week of turbulence within the … Read more
Over the decades, Mike Fox has witnessed the housing market progressively tilt towards larger, more expensive homes. Without a major overhaul of the current regulatory processes, he says, things will never change. It’s one of the biggest problems our country faces – we cannot produce the affordable housing that’s so desperately needed. But we can … Read more
Proposed reforms to the RMA would see local communities’ place in the decision-making process replaced by appointed ‘Expert Consenting Panels’. That’s a real risk when now, more than ever, we need open debate on the future of this country, argues Amanda Thomas. My bubble has been my partner and me, and our geriatric dog. Through … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government unveils fast-tracking of RMA for infrastructure, shape of cannabis law reform announced, and Fish and Game in disarray. In what seems like one of the most unlikely headlines of the year, the government has made RMA changes that are broadly palatable to the other … Read more
As New Zealand suffers from drought and the effects of climate change become more severe, now is not the time for New Zealand to be shipping water offshore, writes Cat MacLennan. At the bottom of the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world’s ocean, explorers in 2019 found four new species of crustaceans … Read more
The government have announced plans to reform the Resource Management Act, a hideously complicated piece of legislation that gets a bad rap for all sorts of reasons. Here’s what it all means. What’s all this then? Imagine a set of laws which covered pretty much all of the physical space in New Zealand, and how … Read more
The Resource Management Act is getting another facelift this year, but will it be in time to give Auckland’s kauri a fighting chance? Watercare recently lodged a resource management application in order to begin construction of a replacement water treatment plant in the heart of Titirangi, adding to the powderkeg of tension between locals and … Read more
Those trying to oppose an “ambitious” offshore drilling project on the grounds of climate change are out of luck. Green MP Gareth Hughes explains why, and sets out his views on what should be done about it. Update, 14 June: the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ) has responded. Their comments are … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: MP expenses have been revealed – and they’re up, National hints towards RMA change bill, and protesters dressed as cows attempt accountant office invasion. MP travel expenses have been released. Here’s a full list, topped by National leader Simon Bridges, and followed up largely by MPs who represent … Read more