One of the biggest changes to New Zealand’s environmental and planning laws in more than three decades is raising important questions for Māori about what happens next for Te Tiriti rights, environmental protection and kaitiakitanga.
Associate Professor Linda Te Aho, from the School of Law, Politics and Philosophy at the University of Waikato, joins Radio Waatea to examine the Government’s replacement of the Resource Management Act and what the new regime could mean for Māori.
The Planning and Natural Environment legislation passed its third reading this month. The Government says the new system will make planning simpler, support housing and infrastructure development and retain protections for Treaty settlements and Māori interests.
But the scale of the reforms also puts major questions around Māori participation, decision-making over whenua and wai, environmental safeguards and the practical recognition of kaitiakitanga firmly on the agenda.
For Māori, the debate is about more than replacing one planning system with another. It is about how Te Tiriti rights and responsibilities are reflected when decisions are made about the natural environment for generations to come.
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