The following is adapted from the EDS News, December 2023 (Environmental Defence Society).

The three-party coalition of the new government does not bode well for our environment. Many of the policy agreements in National’s deals with NZ First and ACT are regressive. In addition to rolling back the resource management reforms, the coalition proposes weakening freshwater and indigenous biodiversity protections that had their genesis under the John Key government. There has been a long process of refining and improving those regulations which are just starting to be implemented.  For a full analysis by the EDS, see this Newsroom opinion piece.

The government intends to repeal the Natural and Built Environment Act and the Spatial Planning Act before Christmas. Both Acts have been 5 years in the making, subject to an independent expert panel, extensive public engagement and two rounds of select committee hearings. The repeal process will happen under urgency in a few days, with no public engagement. Replacement laws will take some years to develop and enact and there will be an extended period of uncertainty for businesses, councils and the environment. 

The Climate Change Commission has survived, as well as the Nationally Determined Contribution and 2050 Net Zero targets. But there is the cancellation of mitigation funding – the Climate Emergency Response Fund – and its diversion to tax cuts, walking back on emission reductions from agriculture, cancelling the clean car discount and the intention to open new oil and gas fields.

Image: David Williams