RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says he wants bipartisan support for the Government’s sweeping reform package, but that allowing access to early drafting of the legislation would simply have meant “having endless cups of tea”.
The Government plans to replace the RMA with two new pieces of legislation, which he said would involve “fewer plans, fewer consents” and a simpler planning system.
But it comes after the coalition scuppered the previous Labour government’s own RMA reform package, which itself was drafted without cross-party input.
In recent years, industry experts have increasingly called for greater bipartisan agreement on large infrastructure projects and significant planning initiatives.
Asked about how much involvement the opposition should have in drafting, the senior minister retorted: “The Government’s still the Government, right?
The senior minister spoke to Q+A’s Jack Tame. (Source: Q and A)
“You know, we won an election. All three parties on essentially replacing the RMA,” he said. “But then you just spend two and a half, three years spinning wheels and having endless cups of tea, and you might not make any progress.
“The country can’t wait for that.”
Bishop has written to opposition parties seeking comments on his RMA replacement legislation and says he will meet with his shadow Cabinet counterparts.
Earlier this week, leader Chris Hipkins suggested he wanted the Government to compromise with his party, saying Kiwis had had enough of “the RMA ping pong”.
When asked about his letter to opposition parties stating compromise was possible “without undermining the intent of our reforms”, Bishop rejected suggestions this meant bipartisanship only on Government terms.
“We have coalition commitments that are sacrosanct, that we won’t be compromising on. But there are heaps – look, the RMA at the moment is 900 pages, right?
“The devil is in the detail on this stuff.”
The minister added: “They may, at the end of the day, say, ‘We don’t agree with this, but on balance, we’re going to vote for it’, and they might campaign on changing parts of it.
“That’s totally fine. That’s politics. You can’t denude Parliament of all political clash of ideas, right? Like, political parties do have different views.
“They’re entitled to make those points.”
Bishop defended not including opposition parties at the drafting stage, saying he was “taking a more mature approach” than Labour, who he said never responded to National’s 2021 letter about their reforms.
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
