Heather du Plessis-Allan: The RMA change is good, but prepare for issues

Cast your mind back a couple of weeks to what the boss of Auckland Port Roger Gray said. 

He told us New Zealand is a country that says 'no' so often, Miami cruise bosses he spoke to had taken to calling us 'No Zealand'. 

Yesterday the Government unveiled its plan for how we stop that, which is a rewrite of the RMA because the RMA is part of the problem. 

It has turned 'no' into an art form in this country. No to your new deck, no to that road, no to you putting a door on the side of the house rather than the front of the house. 

We are a country the size of Japan geographically, yet we have 1200 planning zones each with its own unique, bespoke set of rules, while Japan has 13 zones. 

Chris Bishop’s proposal is to take that 1200 and drop it down to 17. It's still more than Japan, but about a 98.5% reduction, which can’t be sniffed at. 

So prolific and ridiculous are the stories that we can all tell about our encounters with the RMA that I think you’d struggle to find anyone who opposes change. 

The trouble has always been agreeing on what change looks like and that is no different this time around. 

This RMA reform is welcome, overdue, brave, and almost certainly going to help the country grow. 

But mark my words: it will create all kinds of political problems. 

Just look at the case of Auckland and Wellington. Both cities need to build more houses but the minute the rules change to make that a reality, the nimbys start complaining. 

And that will happen with the RMA. Because sure, your property rights are being strengthened so you can do what you want on your property. 

But it's the same for your neighbour, which means if he wants to build that big whatever you have to look at, you might not be able to say no. 

None of us want to lose our views, have a road running right next to us or want the infrastructure development to kill the precious, indigenous snail. 

And those things might happen because we are all losing some of our ability to say no. 

Now, I think that’s a good thing. There’s been too much 'no', clearly, otherwise we wouldn't be 'No Zealand'. 

But saying yes will take some getting used to. 

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