RMA Replacement Laws Pass Today, Usher In New Era Of Harm To The Environment

The Green Party says the worst parts of the new laws replacing core environmental legislation were copied and pasted from industry lobbying documents, and will allow untold harm to human health and the environment.

“With the passing of these bills, Aotearoa is in a new era of environmental exploitation at the hands of polluting industries,” says Green Party Environment spokesperson Lan Pham.

“At a time when half of our rivers are too polluted to swim in, ocean fisheries like tarakihi are collapsing, and over 4,000 native species are threatened with extinction, this Government could not be more out of touch with what New Zealanders want.

“New Zealanders expect and deserve their laws to protect and restore the environment. Instead, the Luxon Government has chosen to act on industry demands and embed climate denialism and environmental destruction into planning and environmental law.

“One only has to look at the introduction of a rule which explicitly prevents decision-makers from considering the negative impacts of greenhouse gas emissions in causing climate change. A clause Federated Farmers lobbied for at the expense of everyone else’s future.

“The Luxon Government had all the information, evidence and learnings of 35 years of the RMA at their fingertips. They chose to reject that, against the advice of their officials, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and 75% of submitters. Instead they have turned corporate polluters’ wish lists into law.

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“The Green Party will always put the health of our people and the health of our environment front and centre. It is the foundation that our economy, our health and our future relies on.

“In the last week, the Green Party has released policies that will protect the environment and conservation land, and regulate the lobbying and corporate influence that has seen public confidence in government and politicians plummet.

“We stand with the tens of thousands who marched in Tāmaki Makaurau and the hundreds of thousands of submitters across the political spectrum who have made their voices heard in petitions and submissions across all the Government’s anti-environment bills this term.

“They are part of nature fighting back, and on November 7, the Government will understand that nature may not have a voice, but voters certainly do,” says Lan Pham.

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