Supplied by Federated Farmers

Federated Farmers says while it supports the intent of the Government’s resource management overhaul, a deep dive into the draft legislation has revealed some serious concerns. Most concerning are provisions allowing freshwater rights to be auctioned, tendered, or levied - effectively enabling freshwater to be taxed, says Federated Farmers RMA reform spokesperson Mark Hooper.

"It’s not an exaggeration to say we were alarmed when we read clauses in the Natural Environment Bill that give future Ministers sweeping powers to tax water to manage demand. There is no way on earth Federated Farmers can or will support that. I’ll be seeking urgent clarification from the Beehive, because any reform that allows water taxes by stealth is completely unacceptable to us."

Last December the Government released two new bills - the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill - to replace the Resource Management Act. Hooper says Federated Farmers staff have spent the past eight weeks working through the detail.

"It’s important to state up front that Federated Farmers is completely on board with the aims of the reform. "The promise of a stronger focus on property rights, a tighter scope, fewer resource consents, more standardisation and less litigation all sound like the reset farmers have been calling for. "But as we’ve worked through the detail, it’s become clear that there are parts of these bills that do not align with those aims at all." Hooper says the risk of water taxes is not the only concern. As currently drafted, the new system may be more permissive where environmental limits are comfortably met, but significantly more restrictive where a catchment is at or near its limit. "Councils often set limits that aim to maintain current water quality levels, so this could mean many catchments are immediately at or beyond environmental limits from the outset. "As the Natural Environment Bill becomes more restrictive as catchments approach those limits, that could actually mean more resource consents for farmers as the bills are currently drafted. "This is on top of requirements for all farmers to also have a Freshwater Farm Plan. "Federated Farmers supports a shift to a farm plan approach, but only if it replaces, rather than sits alongside, the need for a resource consent." Another area of concern is the wording around when councils must compensate landowners for loss of property value.

Hooper says Federated Farmers welcomed the Government’s earlier commitment to compensation when restrictive overlays - such as Outstanding Natural Landscapes and Significant Natural Areas - are imposed on farms.

"But now, when we read the draft legislation, we’re seeing a compensation regime that’s much more uncertain than many expected. "It relies on proving a ‘significant impact on the reasonable use of land’, which means compensation could be very limited and will ultimately depend on how future court cases interpret that threshold."

Hooper says another major concern is that Water Conservation Orders remain largely untouched, despite being an outdated planning tool. Farmers and growers are pretty baffled that these relics haven’t been ditched, as they’re a very poor way to manage freshwater resources. They allow any member of the public to override regional council processes and push for stricter freshwater controls. Hooper says much of the most important detail in the Natural Environment Bill - including the meaning of key goals, the scope of regulation, and what regional plans must contain - is deferred to future national direction set by the Minister. "That creates a ‘trust us and wait’ model and opens the door to wildly different interpretations by future governments. "Farmers need certainty if they’re going to invest in their land. A system that leaves key details up to future Ministers creates risk, delays decisions, and undermines confidence in the whole reform."

Federated Farmers is preparing a strong submission aimed at highlighting weaknesses in both bills and supporting the Select Committee process to amend both bills. "We’ll be doing all we can to ensure the reform delivers what farmers were promised," Hooper says.