NICOLA GRIGG - OPINION PIECE

from ISSUE 1,093 - FRIDAY 7TH JULY 2023

Food, Farming, Whanau

With less than 100 days to go until voting opens, the Labour Government is using the last weeks of Parliament to ram two decidedlyundemocraticpiecesof legislationintolaw.

Local Government Minister, Kieran McAnulty, has announced he intends to pass the fourth piece of deeply unpopular water reform legislation before Parliament rises for the election - and to have it back from select committee by the end of July, giving barely amonthforit to be considered.

A shortened process will rob Kiwis of the chance to have their say on the Water Services EntitiesBill.

The previous Bill attracted over 80,000submissions-whichwere roundly ignored - but this time there is barely the time for anyone to pull together a submission.

Apart from being undemocratic, Labour has a history of shambolic process when it tries to push bills through quickly. Last time a constitutional crisis erupted when Nanaia Mahuta tried to entrench part of Three Waters on behalf of the Greens, only to be forced by National and the public into an embarrassing backtrack a week later.

Thecostsareblowingouttoo. Hidden in the latest Bill is the revelation that the establishment costs have risen by another $1 billion. It turns out that increasing four entities to ten is more expensive (who’d have thought?!). Instead of focusing on putting pipes in the ground, the Government has created a gravy train for highly paid consultants and contractors, with around

$280,000adaybeingspent.

Unlike Labour’s undemocratic reforms, National has a plan, so Kiwis don’t have to worry about sewage on their streets, unswimmablebeaches,orhavingto boiltheirdrinkingwater.

In our first 100 days in government, our Local Water Done Well policy will return assets to councils, as well as set up strict rules for water quality and financial stability so Kiwis can be confident in their water services.

The second piece of legislation to be passed before the election is David Parker’s vanity project; the (Resource Management Act (RMA)2.0.

Don’t get me wrong - the RMA is by far and away the most complained about piece of legislation that my o ce deals with- and weagreethat itneeds a major overhaul. However, the Natural and Built Environment and the Spatial Planning Bills that have been reported back from Parliament’s Environment Committee make things a whole lotworse.

The clear public feedback on the Government’s bills is that they will make it harder to get things done, will not improve the environment and will actually be worse than what we have got now.

They will increase bureaucracy, signiﬁcantly increase legal complexity and litigation, remove local decision-making, and put our decarbonisation goals at risk. New Zealand simply cannot a ord the extensive litigation that the changeswillinevitablyproduce. The Government should have heeded the calls from the many submitters to the select committee to slow down and start again, but they have refusedtolisten.

If in government, National is committed to repealing them as soon as possible after the election, to wipe them from the statute books in order to make a fresh start on substantive RMA Reform.