Heather du Plessis-Allan: The RMA change is good, but prepare for issues

Cast your mind back a couple of weeks to what the boss of Auckland Port Roger Gray said. 

He told us New Zealand is a country that says 'no' so often, Miami cruise bosses he spoke to had taken to calling us 'No Zealand'. 

Yesterday the Government unveiled its plan for how we stop that, which is a rewrite of the RMA because the RMA is part of the problem. 

It has turned 'no' into an art form in this country. No to your new deck, no to that road, no to you putting a door on the side of the house rather than the front of the house. 

We are a country the size of Japan geographically, yet we have 1200 planning zones each with its own unique, bespoke set of rules, while Japan has 13 zones. 

Chris Bishop’s proposal is to take that 1200 and drop it down to 17. It's still more than Japan, but about a 98.5% reduction, which can’t be sniffed at. 

So prolific and ridiculous are the stories that we can all tell about our encounters with the RMA that I think you’d struggle to find anyone who opposes change. 

The trouble has always been agreeing on what change looks like and that is no different this time around. 

This RMA reform is welcome, overdue, brave, and almost certainly going to help the country grow. 

But mark my words: it will create all kinds of political problems. 

Just look at the case of Auckland and Wellington. Both cities need to build more houses but the minute the rules change to make that a reality, the nimbys start complaining. 

And that will happen with the RMA. Because sure, your property rights are being strengthened so you can do what you want on your property. 

But it's the same for your neighbour, which means if he wants to build that big whatever you have to look at, you might not be able to say no. 

None of us want to lose our views, have a road running right next to us or want the infrastructure development to kill the precious, indigenous snail. 

And those things might happen because we are all losing some of our ability to say no. 

Now, I think that’s a good thing. There’s been too much 'no', clearly, otherwise we wouldn't be 'No Zealand'. 

But saying yes will take some getting used to. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cast your mind back a couple of weeks to what
Roger Gray, the boss of Auckland Port, said, New Zealand
is a country that says no so often that Miami
Cruz bosses he spoke to had taken to calling us
no Zealand. Now yesterday the government unveiled its plan for
how we stop that, how we stop saying no to everything.
It's a rewrite of the RM because the RMA is
part of the problem which has turned no into an

(00:20):
art form in this country. No to your deck, no
to that road, No to you putting a door on
the side of your house rather than at the front
of the house. We are a country the size of
Japan geographically, yet we have twelve hundred planning zones, each
with its own unique, bespoke set of rules, while Japan
has thirteen zones. So Chris Bishop's proposal is to take
that twelve hundred, drop it down to seventeen, still more

(00:42):
than Japan, but it's about a seven thousand percent reduction.
So you know you'll take that so prolific and ridiculous
of the stories that we can tell each one of
us about our encounters with the RAM that I think
that you would struggle to find anyone who opposes changed.
The trouble has always been agreeing to what that change
looks like, and that is no different this time around.
This reform RMA is welcome, it's overdue, it's brave, it

(01:04):
is almost certainly going to help the country grow. But
mark my words, it will create all kinds of political
problems because look at the case of Auckland and Wellington.
Both cities need to build more houses inside the city
centers right densify. But the minute the rules change to
make that a reality, the nimbi start complaining. And that
is exactly what's going to happen with the RM because sure,

(01:25):
your property rights are being strengthened so that you can
do whatever you want on your property, but the same
goes for your neighbor, which means that if he wants
to build that big whatever that you're going to have
to look at, you might not be able to say
no to that anymore. None of us want to lose
our views, none of us want to have a road
running it right next to us. None of us want
the infrastructure development to kill the precious indigenous snail. But
all of those things might happen now more easily because

(01:48):
we're all losing some of our ability to say no. Now,
I think that is a good thing. There has been
too much no, clearly No Zealand, but saying yes we'll
take some getting used to. For more on the Mic
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