Dear John,
What a week! As you read this I’m winging my way to Invercargill to give a speech to the NZ Planning Institute about our new Resource Management Act reforms. It’s been a really big week in my RMA, Housing, Transport and Infrastructure portfolios with speeches around the country. I thought I’d give you a quick run-down as I’ve made a series of important and (I think anyway) exciting announcements!
First on RMA Reform – on Monday the PM and I outlined our plans to replace the RMA entirely with two new laws – a Planning Act and an Environment Act. Almost everyone knows the RMA is broken – it’s made it way too hard to get things done, it ties people up in Council red tape, it’s the cause of our housing crisis, cost overruns in infrastructure – the list goes on. Just in the last couple of weeks we’ve had two perfect demonstrations of this – Contact Energy had a wind farm in the South Island turned down that even DOC supported, and meanwhile a new 11 storey office green star-rated office building next to train station in Auckland was declined consent… instead the site will remain a gravel pit. It’s totally nuts.
So we’re going back to basics. Private property rights are the foundation of the law (more on that in a Hutt Valley context below). You can do what you like with your property as long as you look after the effects on the environment and on others. This is a revolution in the way we currently look at land use, which basically assumes the government and every other Tom, Dick and Harry can poke their nose in. Hence endless council red tape. The new laws will mean fewer plans, fewer consents being required, less red tape, and it will be a much simpler system (for example, did you know NZ has 1175 different types of zones in our cities and towns? Japan has… 13). Law firm Wynn Williams had a good run-down here, the Herald editorialised in support and there’s been supportive comment from almost everyone other than Greenpeace. I’ll cope.
So that’s RMA Reform. It’s big and bold stuff and it’s critical to our future. We’ll have the laws before Parliament by the end of the year and we’re aiming to pass it next year. I have written to the Opposition to see if we can work together and I’m hopeful there’s some common ground.
Yesterday I made some big announcements on housing in Auckland. First of all, the government’s National Infrastructure Funding and Financing agency (NIFFCo) will be providing financial support for the infrastructure required for medium sized greenfields housing development. Our new local government infrastructure changes and our planning law changes are going to take a couple of years to get passed and bedded in, but we don’t have time to waste. So in the interim, NIFFCO will be providing loans to developers to get on and build the enabling infrastructure required for big new housing developments.
We’re also going to remove the rules which stop housing and development on LUC-3 land. Labour passed a rule that said that Land Use Class 1, 2 and 3 all had to be protected. We’re okay with LUC 1 and 2 (our elite soils) being protected, but LUC-3 goes too far – it locks up land the size of Waikato. So we’ll be allowing development on LUC-3 land, and protecting “special agricultural zones” (think Pukekohe and Horowhenua). I think that strikes the right balance.
I also made some announcements about social housing. This Government believes in social housing and we are working hard to deliver better housing to those who need support, including by assisting the Community Housing sector to expand and grow. So we have announced we will "level the playing field" between Kāinga Ora and community housing providers by establishing Crown lending facilities for the Community Housing Funding Agency (CHFA). This will let them borrow at cheaper rates and deliver more houses more quickly. It's fantastic news and has been called a "game changer" by the sector.
Local Matters: On local matters, did you see Tamatha Paul's comments this week? She said that “Wellington people do not want to see police officers everywhere, and, for a lot of people, it makes them feel less safe". Then she claimed someone was in jail for shoplifting something worth $12, but she can't back it up with evidence. Very disrespectful to our very hard working Police. They're doing a great job and a visible Police presence out and about is a good thing, not a bad thing!
Out and About: It was good to get along to the Kiwi Kids Tryathlon in Kilbirnie a couple of weekends ago - one of my favourite things to do each year is handing out medals! Next Friday 4 April 2025, Orchestra Wellington is performing Harmony for Hope at the Hutt City Town Hall to raise funds for Lifting the Lid, a charity helping secondary school principals provide urgent mental health support for students. Should be a great night. Tickets from: harmonyforhope.org.nz
Have a great weekend. I'm on Q and A on Sunday morning if you want to tune in, and then I'm off to Singapore for a few days talking infrastructure and meeting with a range of international companies (as well as the Singapore government). The work never stops!
Chris
P.S Did you see the new (draft) electorate boundaries? More info below.
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One of my Favourite Days of the Year!
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The Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon is designed for Kiwi kids aged 6-15 years. The series has been running since 1992 and is a rite of passage for Kiwi kids. To date, over 450,000 Kiwi kids have given it a TRY. Open to Kiwi kids of all sporting abilities, this is a fun day out for kids, parents and families. Participants get to swim, cycle, and run their way around age appropriate courses. Congrats to everyone who took part.
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Draft Electorate Boundaries for 2026
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The draft boundaries for the 2026 electorate are out and there are some draft proposed changes to the Hutt South electorate which I have the privilege of representing.
The Representation Commission (which is independent of MPs) is recommending three major changes:
1. The area between Boulcott's Farm Golf Club and Fairway Drive (road to KGB) to move from Hutt South to Remutaka (the current boundary is basically Fairway Drive).
2. The area north of Brasell St on the eastern side of the railway line (basically Fairfield) to go into Remutaka as well.
3. The areas of Newlands and Woodridge, which are currently part of the Ohariu electorate, to go into Hutt South.
These boundaries are draft and won't be confirmed until later in the year. Obviously I will continue to advocate hard for everyone in the Hutt right through until the next election, and hopefully beyond!
(In case you're wondering why this is happening - the short story is that the Commission has to go through this process after every census, to ensure seats around the country are roughly the same size (to ensure fairness). There are a bunch of changes the country and it's like pulling a thread - once you make a change to one seat, there are flow on effects around the country. This year for Wellington the major change is driven by the fact that Rongotai and Wellington Central are both too small in population terms. They've had to grow and that has had impacts elsewhere).
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On Friday, 4 April 2025, Orchestra Wellington is performing Harmony for Hope at the Hutt City Town Hall to raise funds for Lifting the Lid, a charity helping secondary school principals provide urgent mental health support for students. It’s already making a huge difference in Wellington and Kāpiti.
The orchestra was incredible in Pink Floyd Orchestrated, and this time they’ll be performing film themes and other well-known orchestral pieces—it should be an amazing night!
Tickets are available at harmonyforhope.org.nz. |
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Drivers who consume impairing drugs are a significant danger on our roads. In recent years, around 30 percent of road deaths have resulted from crashes involving drivers who had consumed impairing prescription or illicit drugs.
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We are replacing the Resource Management Act to make it easier to get things done!
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I had an awesome visit to Racetech in Seaview recently. From their workshop they design and manufacture handcrafted high-performance race seats used in everything from V8 Supercars to rally and drift cars. Every single V8 Supercar on the track has a Hutt-made Racetech seat - how cool is that?
Huge thanks to David Black and the team for the tour.
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Dropped off to me at the airport last week. Made my day! Thank you.
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This awesome machine is currently in Seaview!
This is the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO)’s Intelligent Pavement Assessment Vehicle (iPAVE).
The iPAVE has begun its multi-year survey of New Zealand’s State Highway Network to collect data which will assist in providing the foundation for more efficient and effective decision-making on New Zealand’s road network.
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Shihad band's final show. One of those nights tens of thousands of people will say they were at in future years. 1000 of us at MeowNui witnessed something special.
I got along to each of their last four shows in Wellington and Auckland. Brilliant.
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