Media release: Planning reform passes, but the rules that matter are still to be written
Wellington (Wednesday, 23 September 2026) — Parliament has passed the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill, ending the Resource Management Act's 35-year reign.
The New Zealand Initiative says the Acts settle the system's architecture but defer almost every decision about how it will behave to national direction that does not yet exist, to be written by whoever is the Minister after next year's election.
"Parliament has passed the frame of a planning system, not a planning system," says Nick Clark, Senior Fellow. "The rules that decide whether a house gets built or how a farmer must operate will be written later by a Minister, and can be rewritten by the next minister without returning to Parliament."
The Government's own illustrative national policy direction, published alongside the Bills, states that "the presumption is that people can use their land without unnecessary constraint", on pages stamped "not government policy".
"We agree with that presumption. It is what this reform was supposed to be about," Mr Clark says. "But a presumption that lives outside the statute is a promise, not a right."
There are real gains in the new legislation. A council will no longer be able to refuse a project because a building is thought ugly, because it spoils a neighbour's view, because a competitor objects, or because it might set a precedent. The system's broad goals now discipline national instruments and plans rather than being relitigated at every consent, and emissions are left to the Emissions Trading Scheme rather than resource consents.
"There will be far fewer reasons for a council planner to stop something being built," says Mr Clark. "Those are genuine improvements."
Benno Blaschke, Senior Fellow, says, "The strongest advance of Parliament's final stages is the new urban land market watchdog: an independent statutory officer who will monitor competition in urban land markets and publicly name councils whose decisions have caused a shortage. Councils must respond, and their plans must have regard to the officer's determinations, although the office is not as independent or as strong as the Initiative recommended".
What the legislation does not yet fully deliver is the property-rights-based system promised at the start of the reform. Much will depend on national directions made (and unmade) by ministers. Neither of the Bills creates an enforceable presumption in favour of people using their own land, compensation for regulatory takings remains narrow, national instruments and environmental limits face no binding net-benefit test, and scarce resources are still allocated first-in, first-served with no pathway to tradable rights.
Amendments are expected in the next parliamentary term. The Initiative recommendations include a statutory presumption in favour of land use, cost-benefit disciplines on national instruments, workable compensation, tradable allocation and, once the national direction is settled, legislating its substance so the rules no longer depend on who holds the pen.
"Finish the detail, then legislate it," says Mr Clark. "Parliament has taken useful steps. Its next task is to complete the reform New Zealand was promised."
ENDS
Nick Clark and Benno Blaschke, senior fellows, are available for comment. To schedule an interview, please contact:
Jamuel Enriquez, Marketing and Communications Manager
E: jamuel.enriquez@nzinitiative.org.nz
P: 021 022 34451
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About The New Zealand Initiative
The New Zealand Initiative is an evidence-based think tank and research institute contributing to public policy discussion.
Supported by the nation’s leading visionaries, business leaders and political thinkers, we are committed to making New Zealand a better country for all its citizens with a world-class education system, affordable housing, a healthy environment, sound public finances and a stable currency.
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