The roundabout politics of Resource Management Act reform

The Government wants to unleash the forces of growth and development with RMA reform. (Image: NZME)

Mon, 31 Mar 2025

There was an audible groan along Shortland Street and Lambton Quay last week when the Government unveiled its plans to reform the Resource Management Act. The groan is perhaps best summed up in four words: Here we go again.Or as Russell McVeagh’s lawyers put it in a note, the proposed Resource Management Act (RMA) changes mark the “return of the RMA reform roundabout”. RMA reform could well become another casualty of “missing middle” politics, where reforms fail to get embedded because it is now increasin...

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