Environment NGOs call for dumping of the Government’s RMA replacement bills

New Zealand’s largest environment NGOs have called for the Government’s replacements for the Resource Management Act – the Natural Environment Bill and the Planning Bill – to be thrown out as they are fundamentally flawed.

Forest and Bird, the Environmental Defence Society and Greenpeace Aotearoa say it is time to admit that these bills are an unabashed attack on nature, that they are designed to undermine environmental protection in our country, and they should be rejected.

The NGO’s say the latest amendments to the bills announced by the Government are yet another travesty:

• Effectively removing environmental limits from the Natural Environment Bill;

• Blocking clean water rules that have already been through councils and courts in the Waikato and Manawatu (Plan changes 1 and 2);

• Replacing mandated freshwater farm plans with self-regulation; and

• Blocking regional councils from protecting the inshore marine environment from destructive fishing activity.