The National Infrastructure Plan was published this week. It sets out a practical, affordable pathway to deliver the infrastructure New Zealanders need to thrive over the next 30 years.

At a high level, RMLA supports reform of New Zealand’s resource management system and considers the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill introduce a number of positive concepts and processes. However, as currently drafted, the Bills contain structural, procedural, and substantive issues that risk undermining certainty, efficiency, and the achievement of high-quality land use planning, development and environmental outcomes. Our submission therefore recommends targeted and, in some cases, material amendments to ensure the new system is legally robust, workable, and enduring.

Environmental Defence Society Chief Executive Gary Taylor says, “The fear has been that the Fast-track Approvals Act would approve every application regardless of its environmental impacts. The draft decision on the Trans-Tasman Resources offshore mining project shows that’s not the case.”

EDS has released its draft submission on the two Resource Management Act replacement Bills ahead of the closing date.

The Ministry for the Environment publishes annual projections estimating New Zealand’s future greenhouse gas emissions to 2050. These projections were last published in October 2025.

The Government is contributing $7 million in funding to 16 Māori-led, marae-based climate projects.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has provided the Environment Committee with some preliminary questions members might want to consider as they scrutinise the Planning and Natural Environment Bills.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has written to Minister of Conservation, Hon Tama Potaka, regarding his recent decision to not accord conservation park status for KAW_17 Mount Rochfort, as part of the reclassification of West Coast stewardship lands.

Updates to the Building Act and the new National Direction under the Resource Manage Act remove the need for consents for small standalone dwellings up to 70 square metres in size, otherwise known as granny flats.

The Government has made changes to consenting for mines and quarries and in the coastal marine area.

The Government’s changes to boost infrastructure delivery, including our supply of renewable energy have come into effect.

This package released by MfE, contains Cabinet papers and briefings related to the review of New Zealand’s 2050 emissions reduction targets.