Federated Farmers have welcomed swift action from the Government to urgently clarify discharge consenting provisions in the Resource Management Act.
“A recent High Court decision ruling that discharge consents are unlawful has created huge uncertainty for farmers,” says Federated Farmers Resource Management Act (RMA) reform spokesperson Mark Hooper.
“Hundreds of consents coming up for renewal would have faced an uncertain future, and getting any new consent would have been simply impossible.
“It’s great that the Government have recognised the significance and time sensitivity of this issue, moving quickly with common sense to deliver a pragmatic solution.”
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says clarifications to discharge consenting provisions in the RMA will provide certainty for agricultural and horticultural producers, ensuring councils continue to manage discharge consents in a practical way.
He says recent High Court decisions on sections 70 and 107 of the RMA threaten to make the law unworkable by reducing councils’ ability to manage discharges from a range of activities.
“This would restrict councils’ ability to issue, or re-issue, consent for discharges from activities by industry, farming, meat processing, as well as wastewater discharges.
“Cabinet this week (August 9) agreed to make time-critical amendments to section 107 of the RMA so that councils and consent applicants have legal clarity, and the certainty they need to plan ahead.
“This needs to be addressed urgently because a large number of consents could be declined or put on hold, which will cost councils, industry and many primary sector producers, and could mean activities such as large-scale irrigation schemes can’t operate,” McClay says.
Hooper says that, without a law change, huge parts of New Zealand’s productive economy would simply grind to a halt.
Environment Canterbury estimate in that, in their region alone, 525 consents would be affected over the next 12 months.
“This whole saga has benefited nobody but resource management lawyers, costing ratepayers millions of dollars, only for the law to be changed,” Hooper says.
“It shows just how slow, broken and cumbersome our resource management laws have become.
“New legislation is desperately needed to cut through these litigious processes and return control to local councils to make sensible decisions about resource consents.”
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
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