Date: 25 January 2023
Time: 2.00pm - 3.00pm
The Environmental Defence Society, with support from the Resource Management Law Association, is hosting an online
workshop on the Natural and Built Environment Bill and the Spatial Planning Bill to assist with submissions on the
bills.
The bills, which will replace the Resource Management Act, will provide the legal framework for managing Aotearoa New
Zealand’s natural and built environments for decades to come. It is therefore critically important that we get them
right. Although the bills are lengthy and complex, EDS’s analysis should make it easy to get involved in this once in a
generation reform process.
Led by Greg Severinsen and Raewyn Peart, the workshop will present EDS’s perspectives on the bills, including
identifying positive elements that merit support and things that require change. Questions and answers will follow. The
workshop will not be overly ‘legalistic’, rather the focus will be on assisting you to gain a broader understanding of
the bills in order to prepare submissions.
Key topics to be covered will include:The purpose and principles of the proposed legislationThe new system of environmental limits and targetsThe shift from managing ‘effects’ to pursuing ‘outcomes’Changes in how resources are to be allocated (and reallocated over time)Changes to key planning instruments, including national direction and regional and district plansChanges to consenting, water conservation orders and compliance/enforcement frameworksHow different statutes are intended to work together
Submissions on the bills to the Environment Select Committee close on 5 February 2023.
EDS is preparing a template submission to help those interested in submitting, and will make this available in advance
of the workshop.Register here
Raewyn Peart holds degrees in law, social science and commerce and heads EDS’s highly-regarded environmental policy think tank. She
has published and presented widely on resource management issues and overseen investigations into the resource
management system, the conservation management system and oceans reform. She is currently leading an investigation into
the design of the proposed Climate Adaptation Act. Raewyn was a member of the Ministerially-appointed Resource
Management Review Panel which undertook a comprehensive review of the resource management system. In 2019 she was
appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to environmental and conservation policy.
Dr Greg Severinsen provides the lead on EDS's environmental system reform projects. He has practised in resource management law at a major
law firm, worked in policy at the Ministry for the Environment and taught at Victoria University of Wellington. Greg has
published and presented on a range of resource management and environmental law topics both here and abroad, and sat on
a number of advisory panels. Most recently, he has led the multi-phase EDS policy project on resource management reform
(which influenced the deliberations of the Randerson Panel and current efforts to replace the RMA), and fundamental
reform of the oceans management system.