Officials say RMA changes undermine rights

The Green Party is calling on the Government to rethink proposed changes to the Resource Management Act after leaked Cabinet advice reveals that they are an assault on fundamental rights of New Zealanders.

“Advice from the Ministry of Justice confirms the Greens’ view that changes will prevent legitimate cases going to court and undermine fundamental justice rights”, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman said.

“This leaked Cabinet paper shows that officials have raised exactly the same objections as the Green Party about these changes, which are rushed and ill thought out.”

In the Cabinet paper, Ministry of Justice officials note that: “the [financial] risks associated with security of costs…can act as a barrier for those with legitimate cases but little money”.

The paper also states that: “Ministry of Justice and other officials consider the appeal right is a fundamental right, there has been insufficient time to consider the implications of this option, and it should be considered at phase two”.

Dr Norman said: “Access to appeal rights is a core principle of New Zealand’s justice system, and this Government seems willing to take them away from New Zealanders seeking to protect our communities and environment.”

“Limiting rights of appeal to the Environment Court and making them financially out-of-reach would be disastrous for New Zealand’s environment, resulting in more polluted waterways, more unsightly and inappropriate development, and more loss of biodiversity.”

“There are numerous examples where legitimate appeals have resulted in much better outcomes for communities and the environment.”

“The Greens urge the Minister to heed the Justice officials’ advice and defer these aspects of the reform to the second phase so they can be considered properly – to do otherwise is very poor and ideologically-driven law making.”

“This leaked Cabinet paper also raises questions about the answers given in Parliament last week by the Minister of Justice Simon Power, who assured the House that he ‘was satisfied that the issues around access to justice had been addressed’.”

“However, this answer was contradicted this morning by Environment Minister Nick Smith speaking on Radio NZ National where he accepted that the Ministry of Justice still holds a different view, but that he chose to ignore it.”