2025: Slow Down And Get It Right

Monday, 20 January 2025, 5:58 pm
Opinion: Environmental Defence Society

16 January 2025

2025 is a critical year for Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural world. With the entire environmental management system slated for reform, it's the most important year in decades. If the hot-headed excesses of last year’s law-making continue, it will lead to terrible long-term outcomes. But if sense prevails, we could see a calmer, more nuanced and intelligent government making good, durable environmental law.

2024 was a dark year indeed. A panoply of legislative changes weakened many existing environmental protections and introduced new fast-track provisions that will enable bad projects to get approved. Coal mines, dodgy waste incinerators, and a number of environmentally damaging projects that have already been considered and declined consent will be the first projects off the block. Many others will follow.

This is bad enough but those are relatively discrete projects.

The reforms planned for 2025 are far more extensive and worrying. All national policy statements and environmental standards – the engine-room of our resource management system, that guide all development, are under threat. They cover critically important topics such as freshwater quality, indigenous biodiversity and coastal protection. They spell out how councils must give effect to the law.

The government plans to review and potentially replace 14 pieces of national direction and create 7 new ones. This is a wholesale rewrite of our regulatory environmental framework.

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The coalition is then planning to sweep away the Resource Management Act (RMA) entirely. It is to be replaced with two new pieces of legislation for which the enjoyment of property rights (whatever that means) will be the guiding principle. One will focus on urban development and infrastructure and the other on environmental protection. This could mean urban areas are treated as being ‘outside the environment’ and the protection Act could be subservient to the development Act.

The detail of what the new laws will contain is still unclear. An Expert Advisory Group, tasked with providing a ‘blueprint’ for replacing the RMA, reported to Minister Bishop prior to Christmas. Hopefully the report will soon be released so the public has some idea of what we are in for.

The importance of these changes cannot be overstated. They will potentially determine the environmental management framework for decades to come. If too unbalanced in favour of development, the country will be faced with more changes when a new government takes office.

Whether these reforms lead to good or bad outcomes is up to a small group of Ministers who in 2024 showed disdain for the environment. But there is some cause for hope.

Most of the damaging agendas of Ministers were completed in 2024. Hopefully, we will see a more nuanced outcome and ideally cross-party support for the wider system reforms this year. We understand that there is an emerging realisation that constant legal lurching as governments change is not good for the country. EDS’s May 2025 Conference will be exploring in depth how we can get both good economic and environmental outcomes.

Development interests have so far had their way with this government. The way Federated Farmers, miners and others have opportunistically wrestled their agendas into law is disconcerting. During 2025, Ministers should listen to the rest of us, including environmental groups. We need more balanced and informed government.

There is a potpourri of other issues which are also of concern.

The Department of Conservation’s core budget has been drastically cut so it can’t do its job properly (DOC manages one-third of our country on a budget the size of a city council); the Hauraki Gulf Bill is yet to pass; the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust is cutting back on new conservation covenants because of inadequate government support; reforms to the Conservation Act could lower the bar for disposal of public conservation land; climate policy is not working; RMA amendments are proposed to constrain the ability to control the impacts of fishing on marine biodiversity; and a weakening of the courts’ ability to act as a check on Ministers has been signaled.

Further, while we can assume the Treaty Principles Bill will not pass, Government intends to repeal Treaty clauses in more than 20 existing laws including resource management ones. That implicitly weakens environmental outcomes and is arguably constitutionally unsound.

All in all, 2025 will be a critical year for our country. Environmental advocates are highly motivated to defend our natural world. We want to work constructively with government if that’s on offer. Otherwise, we will stand our ground and use every opportunity to resist bad outcomes.

This is a copy of an opinion piece first published in Newsroom that sets out Gary Taylor’s expectations for the new year.

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Environmental Defence Society

EDS speaks for the environment. It has influence.

Since 1971, EDS has been driving environmental protection in Aotearoa New Zealand through law and policy change. That's why it's one of this country's most influential non- profit organisations when it comes to achieving better environmental outcomes.

EDS has expertise in key disciplines including law, planning, landscape and science. It operates as a policy think-tank, a litigation advocate, and a collaborator – bringing together the private and public sectors for constructive engagement.

EDS runs conferences and seminars on topical issues, including an annual Environmental Summit and the Climate Change and Business Conference.

EDS is a registered charity and donations to it are tax-deductible.

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