Farmers serve RMA bill with non compliance order

Federated Farmers is giving the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill a notice of non compliance after it failed to acknowledge property rights and full compensation principles.

“No Resource Management Act (RMA) reform package is satisfactory if one of the western world’s first tenets, property rights, is not enshrined,” says Don Nicolson, Federated Farmers President.

”We can’t accept that the current Resource Management Amendment Bill, which recommends a number changes to the RMA, does not touch section 6 of the Act.

“Absolute regard for property rights must be incorporated into section 6 of the RMA. This is even more critical now that the Bill attempts to fast track projects of national significance.

“Over the life of the RMA, New Zealand farmers’ right to manage their land has been severely compromised. This hits farmers hard in the pocket and they’re not even provided with one penny of compensation.

“Successive Governments have shown a callous disregard for property rights. Now there are literally thousands of cases where councils have perpetrated statutory theft under the guise of the RMA to protect private property in the public interest. I wouldn’t be able to call this statutory theft however, if the principle of full compensation was invoked through the RMA.

“Take the case of Selwyn farmers at the base of the Port Hills. They face strict controls over the construction of earthworks and farm buildings on their land after it was deemed an outstanding landscape. Then in Queenstown, one station owner is even struggling to erect a boundary fence on his own property.

“I’ll bet even a few city dwellers are feeling the effects of New Zealand’s weak stance on property rights. Residents in the Wellington suburb of Thorndon will soon find it very difficult to make improvements to their property when the area becomes a heritage zone.

“We hope city dwellers will support this cause too, as maintaining authority over private property is a basic human right.

“While we appreciate the Government’s effort to address farmers other concerns with the RMA, we look forward to cracking all of the Federation’s six pack. It also calls for a review of the Department of Conservation’s advocacy role.

“Yet property rights and provision for full compensation when these rights are lost is at the top of the list for farmers. If the current Government fails to write these provisions into the RMA, planners and lawyers will continue to enjoy the feeding frenzy they have become accustomed to.