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Part G - Improving practice and building capacity

Background

173. Decision making on the management of resources is largely devolved to 74 territorial and 12 regional authorities. Devolved decision making is based on the assumption that local authorities are better placed to make decisions about the use and development of natural resources at the local level. The RMA is the most devolved system of environmental management in the world.

What is the problem?

174. Overall, local authority practice has steadily improved over the last 13 years, but the performance of some local authorities still falls short of what is acceptable. Some of the issues relate to lack of knowledge, some to lack of capacity, but for the main implementers of the Act, local authorities, there are huge differences in abilities to respond to resource management challenges.

175. The performance of other RMA participants - applicants, submitters, RMA professionals, NGOs, Māori, can also be significantly improved.

176. There is no specialised review of complaints office for poor RMA processes and few options for the government to address inadequate council performance under the RMA. The roles of existing Offices of Parliament (the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of the Auditor General and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment) are not well known and there are detached linkages with the Minister for the Environment who is responsible for monitoring the effect and implementation of RMA.

What is the outcome?

177. There is little doubt that improvements in quality and consistency can be made in practice under the Act. Significant gains in resource management practice will only come with central government assistance over the long term.

178. There are currently three different Officers of Parliament who deal with RMA concerns. Their roles need to be better coordinated with work of the Minister and Ministry for the Environment. In line with current practice the following roles are:

  • Office of the Ombudsman: complaints about local authority practices
  • Office of the Auditor General: review of local authority performance
  • Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment: environmental outcomes

What is proposed?

179. The package of best practice and capacity building initiatives includes:

  • commissioner and councillor training to support mandatory accreditation of members of hearings bodies
  • providing the Ministry for the Environment with an enhanced ability to take a stronger leadership role in implementing and monitoring the RMA
  • targeted one-on-one assistance to local authorities in need of support
  • national guidance through the delivery and sharing of good practice between resource management practitioners
  • resource management user awareness/education, targeted to particular sectors (eg. investors and small business)
  • guidance on iwi engagement and iwi capacity building.

180. Details of these initiatives are contained in Attachment 1.

181. The Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of the Auditor General and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment already serve the role of complaints and review on the RMA. It is proposed that there be better coordination between the roles. For example, sharing of complaints information; agencies recommending remedial action and provide the Minister for the Environment and the Ministry with advice on where to target assistance.

182. The Minister for the Environment is responsible for monitoring the 'effect and implementation' of the Act (s24(f)). To be more effective in this role, it is considered that the powers of the Minister need strengthening by providing:

  • an ability for the Minister to request information relating to the Minister's functions from a local authority without being charged for that information
  • an intervention power, with an ability for the Minister to direct a local authority to undertake a specific action relating to the local authority's functions under the RMA.

183. Local authority failure to comply with directions would invoke the Minister's existing powers under section 25 of the Act - to appoint a commissioner to undertake a function of a local authority.

What are the risks, benefits and costs?

184. The initiatives proposed will have a longer term impact in addressing concerns with resource management practice within local government and other resource management participants.

 

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Last updated: 6 May 2008