Last week RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Parliamentary Under-Secretary Simon Court announced the Government is replacing the RMA with two laws based on property rights. NRC members will remember my online discussion with Simon Court pre-election on why RMA reform is so critical for getting timely infrastructure. Now he is making good on that promise.

“Putting property rights at the centre of resource management means ditching rules that invite every Tom, Dick, and Harry to vexatiously object to peaceful use and development of private property. Rules should only restrict activity with material spillover effects on other people’s enjoyment of their own property, or on the property rights of the wider natural environment that sustains us,” Mr Court says.

I couldn’t agree more, Simon.

Another building block of reform underway – they are coming thick and fast.

That got me thinking about the system reform underway, not only in transport, but across government. This week I had occasion to dip into the dog-eared copy of the Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport that sits on my desk. Published in June, reading it only four months later was enlightening.

Section 2, entitled “System Reform” sets out 6 major reforms the government will be undertaking:

• Establishing a National Infrastructure Agency – prioritising infrastructure projects and attracting private investment
• Fast tracking of consents for major projects – bill underway, select committee report due 18 October
• Making it easier to sell land no longer needed for transport purposes – underway
• Rapidly advancing reforms to the National Land Transport Fund revenue system – moving from FED to RUC planning underway and NRC is assisting
• Requiring future GPS on land transport to have a 10-year investment plan – underway
• Restoring the credibility of the Emissions Trading Scheme – underway

All of these reforms are quickly progressing, which is reassuring because they are urgently needed.

The New Zealand transport system has entered a period of unprecedented change.  There are a number of reasons for this – delayed infrastructure investment is catching up with us, how we pay for roads is no longer fit for purpose, we have signed up to emissions reduction targets without a clear plan of how to meet them, and we have an aging and reducing workforce as the demographics of our country change. Fortunately, we have a government with clear ambitions to fix a lot of this, but with a massive change agenda to get across the line with only a three-year term.

What is confidence building is that clear reform objectives have been set, a coordinated plan across government laid out, and a timeline set. Changes are not being made in isolation, but in a coordinated way across the system.

It is early days, but the signs are promising.

– By Justin Tighe-Umbers, chief executive, National Road Carriers