Leonie Freeman: CEO of the Property Council reacts positively to RMA announcement

The RMA is out and is set to be replaced with two new laws - one based on planning and one based on the environment. 

The new laws are expected to cut the number of consents and permits by 46%, and speed up the ones currently in the pipeline. 

CEO of the Property Council Leonie Freeman told Ryan Bridge she hopes that, "the reduction of 100 plans down to 17 will provide a lot more consistency."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now, though, let's get to the rim, so Arima
is out. We have replacements to new laws coming in,
one based on planning, the others actually based on the environment.
The idea is you will have the number of consents
and permits that are required, and you'll speed up the
ones that are still in the pipeline. Government reckons we
will save thirteen billion bucks in admin and compliance costs

(00:22):
over the next thirty years. Property Council Chief executively. Only
Freeman's with me tonight, Heyyoni Cure, what's your first impressions
of this.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
We're pleased with the direction of where the government's going
with this. We're hoping that it will. You know, the
reduction of one hundred plans down to seventeen will provide
a lot more consistency. The idea is it will be
a lot simpler. Reducing the number of consents will only
help speed up the process and also reduce costs. And

(00:52):
at the end of the day, with the two acts,
it will make clearer the environmental priorities, but the same
time provide clarity on development so that we protect the
environment while we house Kiwis and I think that's the
key outcome. We're looking for will.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
We the consumers see cheaper you know, will I see
a cheaper house?

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, that's a good question. It's all going to be
and how it's implemented. I mean, there is the potential
to do that because consenting costs are a big part
of house costs, so yes, possibly, but also there's a
whole lot of other things that have got to go
with this, And it's still going to be a while
until it's you know, because we've still got to go
through the consultation process. The bill's got to be passed,

(01:34):
and then it's going to be a while until it's implemented.
But that is the objective.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
It would be great, would be wouldn't it? What about
this problem with building in areas or getting developments done
in areas where there aren't there isn't the infrastructure under
the ground.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
So infrastructure is always you know, the development can't occur
until the infrastructure is there. So this, you know, the
bills were there are focusing on that sort of bigger
perspective development, but infrastructure is a key bit that needs
to be put in place before and the government was

(02:11):
introducing some new or updating its Finance and Funding Act
today and The idea is to try and find some
alternative ways to help support counsels to fund the infrastructure.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Leonie, appreciate your time tonight, Thanks for being with me
Lenie Freeman, who's chief executive at the Property Council.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
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Speaker 3 (02:34):
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