Greenpeace says the Coalition Government has committed
one of its most destructive acts against nature this term,
pushing through legislation replacing the Resource
Management Act (RMA) last night, in the final sitting days
of Parliament.
For more than three decades, the RMA
has been New Zealand’s overarching legal framework
governing how land, water, air and other natural resources
are used and protected. It has now been replaced by the
Natural Environment Act and the Planning
Act.
Greenpeace spokesperson Gen Toop says the
significance of what the Coalition Government has just done
cannot be overstated.
“The RMA was New Zealand’s
main environmental law. It was designed to protect our air
and water from contamination, and our forests, wildlife and
coastlines from degradation. That protection has just been
well and truly ripped to shreds.
“These new laws allow
companies to cause more pollution, contamination and
environmental degradation in Aotearoa. If these laws are not
repealed by the next Government, we will be living with the
environmental damage they enable long into the
future.”
Created in 1991, the RMA brought previously
separate laws protecting air, water, soil and the
environment into one integrated system. The 1991 reforms
began under Labour but the RMA was ultimately passed into
law by the incoming National Government.
“Until today,
there had been an enduring recognition across political
lines that New Zealand needed a strong, overarching
environmental law to put boundaries around pollution and
degradation. What happened today is a profound departure
from that consensus,” says Toop.
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“On behalf of
polluting industries, after private
backroom meetings with corporate lobbyists, the
Coalition Government has completed a hostile takeover of our
cornerstone environmental law.
“They have replaced it
with a system designed to protect corporate profits rather
than protect the environment. They have even reversed the
well-established polluter-pays principle. The public will
now end up paying polluters instead.”
The new laws
introduce a new scheme in which ratepayers could be forced
to pay companies “compensation” for environmental protection
rules. The Government’s own report has estimated this
could cost councils up to
$2 billion.
Greenpeace says they also render
environmental limits legally meaningless, scrap existing iwi
agreements, stop councils from introducing stronger local
protections like bans on destructive fishing practices,
restrict public participation and Māori involvement in
environmental decision-making, and weaken protections for
native wildlife.
“Aotearoa already has polluted
rivers, contaminated drinking water, disappearing wildlife
and a worsening climate crisis. We desperately needed
stronger environmental protection. Instead, this Government
has ripped the country’s cornerstone environmental law
apart,” says Toop.
“These new laws will make it easier
for data centres, mines, feedlots, fish farms and other
commercial activities to get consent, even where
environmental impacts would be devastating. They also ban
local councils from introducing desperately needed marine
protections.”
“After the election, these laws must be
repealed as a matter of urgency, before they are enacted on
the ground and lead to irreversible environmental
damage.”
