Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
File photo. RMA Minister Chris Bishop said the measure would be widely welcomed. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
Legislation rolling over consents until the new Resource Management system kicks in has passed its third reading.
The coalition is replacing the RMA with a new planning system, aimed at streamlining and simplifying consenting processes.
Until then, the government has moved to urgently pass a bill through all legislative stages to extend the expiry date of current consents to the end of 2027.
The government says it will give consent holders certainty, while opposition parties have decried the rushed process, potential environmental impact and litigation risk.
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said the legislation was "a temporary transition measure".
"The intention of this bill is to provide certainty as we go through that consent transition process laid out in the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill.
"In the interim, it is clear that the Parliament needs to send a clear signal to people with that uncertainty around what happens to their consents as we approach the onset of the new planning system."
Labour's environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said the legislation hadn't been signalled to the opposition at all. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Bishop said the measure would be widely welcomed by many throughout the country, noting farmers would be particularly appreciative.
Labour's environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking criticised both the substance of the law and the process the coalition had followed.
"It was not signalled to us at all. To give the Minister some credit he has engaged on the other two pieces of legislation, but not this. This came as a total surprise and here we are already on the third reading.
Brooking said it was concerning consents relating to water takes and discharges were being rolled over for years longer than they were initially granted for.
"Communities very much care about waterways. They're relevant to treaty settlements, they're very important to iwi, they're mahinga kai areas. So if someone continues to have a consent that is polluting or is taking water that might have, and I say might again, an impact on the amount of tuna in the river. It might not. I don't know, because nobody has told us."
"There has just been no analysis of this bill so we do not know what the consequences will be."
The bill passed its third reading with support from National, the ACT Party and New Zealand First, with Labour, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori, Tākuta Ferris and Mairameno Kapa-Kingi opposed.
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