Mine consent changes begin

Do not expect to see a swath of new mines being opened after new government legislation came into force yesterday.

Government ministers said the legislation would make it easier to consent mines and quarries.

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop, Resources Minister Shane Jones, and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said it had five major national direction instruments to make it easier to quarry, mine, and do more in the coastal marine area.

Those affected were: the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity 2023, the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020, the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater Regulations 2020, the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land 2022 and the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2010.

"It is an unavoidable fact that to build more infrastructure and grow our economy, we need quarries and mines. The RMA makes it far too difficult for these types of projects to get consent, which is why we are fixing it," Mr Bishop said.

"These changes are part of the government’s focus on creating jobs and growing the economy by ensuring the essential materials for infrastructure can actually be produced."

NZ Minerals Council chief executive Josie Vidal said it was a good result for the industry.

"We were pleased with the changes that were made to kind of reduce duplication and give a clear indication to councils as to what the government intended. Different councils interpret things differently, and that can be a problem in consenting mining in particular," she said.

"There was some wording in the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity, actually in a couple of them where they’ve singled out coal and used some wording that was inappropriate to indicate that there was a sunset for coal."

The three main documents for mining was around the statement on Indigenous Biodiversity, the Environmental Standards for Freshwater and the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.

She said the whole point of national policy statements was to offer national direction.

"We’re all for uniformity in the national direction and clear direction, because that, as the government has indicated, it needs to be enabling to be able to get things done. That is definitely not at the expense of the environment, there are still environmental safeguards and measures in there."

She said New Zealand still had some of the strictest environment standards and the world.

It would not be open season on the environment.

"You’ve got to remember there’s a lot of noise around mining in New Zealand, but it’s still quite a small industry."

She said it would not lead to a huge influx of new mines. The changes were more about getting uniformity.

"People come in from overseas to pay for a mine here because the money is just not in circulation in New Zealand and they want the rules to be consistent, you know, the laws and the rules need to be consistent."

Other legislation around the RMA needed to be passed to give these acts some teeth.

"We’re small, but we do have a lot of mineral potential, but as with all things in New Zealand our distance from market makes us expensive. It’s a lot of money up front to get to an ore body."

Forest & Bird general counsel Erika Toleman said the changes meant more of the country’s most valuable ecosystems could be damaged or destroyed.

In most cases, the harm from these activities can not be properly offset or compensated for, she said.

"This means more loss of native biodiversity at a time when nature is already in crisis."

The rules around indigenous biodiversity were originally put in place to stop the permanent loss of important native plants and wildlife. A few exceptions were allowed.