UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne says the Government would be very unwise to progress its proposed changes to the Resource Management Act relying solely on the vote of the ACT Party.
National and ACT have enough votes to pass changes to the legislation, without relying on any other parties, but Mr Dunne says that doing so would send all the wrong signals.
“ACT’s antipathy to the RMA is well-known, so what would emerge in such circumstances would be legislation that would severely reduce environmental protections and standards in favour of development.
“It would be a very backward step, and just a developers’ charter,” he says.
Mr Dunne says that National needs to be working with support parties like UnitedFuture and the Maori Party, and possibly even Opposition parties of good will, to improve the operation of the RMA, rather than gutting its principles to get ACT’s support and a bare majority in the House.
“RMA changes are a real test of the Government’s environmental protection credentials, and it is important for New Zealand’s future that it not fail the test by taking the easy way out of relying on the ACT Party.
“Changes made this way will have no credibility with middle New Zealand,” he says.