By Fox Meyer of 
The Clutha River / Mata Au in Balclutha, Otago. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
An eleventh hour intervention by the government has blocked the Otago Regional Council from passing its Land & Water Regional plan.
The plan, which was expected to pass by a small majority and increase freshwater environmental protections, was set to be voted on at a meeting on Wednesday. But on Tuesday, an amendment paper was introduced to Parliament that would prevent any councils from enacting a new plan until a new National Policy Statement on freshwater was developed.
Crucially, the amendment would retroactively cover any plans passed from the time of the announcement (Tuesday afternoon) onwards, giving the Otago Regional Council no time to change tack before their meeting.
Councillor Elliot Weir said they had been "cornered" by central government, despite having done "everything we possibly could" to pass the plan.
Thirty years after the Resource Management Act came into effect, the Otago Regional Council was ready to set minimum flow rates on its rivers.
A decades-old and regionally unique provision for mining privileges as a way to take freshwater from rivers led to a convoluted resource management situation in which Otago's rivers didn't actually have minimum flows set.
After extensions and extensive study, the council was finally ready to promulgate a plan, which would - among other things - set a minimum flow standard for rivers big and small in the area.
Current limits - originally defined as privileges for gold sluicing - allow landowners to take unusually high volumes of water from the rivers: volumes technically allowed by the antiquated law, but never-before practical to extract.
Councillor Elliot Weir said it was "pretty clear they're trying to prevent us, specifically", from passing a freshwater plan.
Weir said smaller councils looked to Otago Regional Council as an example of what might pass in terms of freshwater regulation. "The government's doing everything in its power to stop us so that it can stop all regional councils," Weir said.
"I don't think anything they've done today has been in good faith," they said. "I think they were trying to corner us."
Weir said that for a government so focused on promoting localism, "they can't handle not getting what they want".
Claims of being a champion for local government have been "bullshit from the start". Weir did not think this government "sees a future for local government".
In Parliament, Green MP Scott Willis asked the Minister for the Environment, Penny Simmonds, why the date of 22 October was chosen, which she did not directly answer.
He said it was a "middle finger to localism". Simmonds also did not answer a request from Labour's Rachel Brooking to provide comfort that a future National Policy Statement on freshwater policy would protect the environment over development.
Simmonds answered questions from Brooking about the purpose of this amendment by pointing to efficiencies. This was supported by New Zealand First MP Mark Patterson, who reasoned that any plans passed by the council would go through a hearings process, which could see the plan challenged and sent to the Environment Court. Ultimately, he saw this as a waste of time and resources, as Simmonds had previously signalled no support for the council's plan.
Simmonds also argued the amendment was not an affront to localism as it only lasted until the end of 2025 - "a relatively short period of time" - or until a new National Policy Statement would be passed.
Brooking asked how the retroactive clause could be justified unless Simmonds expected a future plan to allow for more pollution than the proposed Otago Regional Council plan. Simmonds said she would not presume what would be in that plan, but admitted the use of retroactive clauses was "not the norm".
The amendment bill, which Brooking described as a "specific attack on the Otago Regional Council", came on the same day as a Crown Observer was announced to watch over Wellington City Council - following news that the council would be forced to rewrite its 2024-2034 Long Term Plan.
The government's decision to intervene comes after a week of speculation in which Local Government Minister Simeon Brown sought advice around the selling of airport shares and the financial situation of Wellington City Council.
But Weir said the intervention in local government affairs, in tandem with fast-track legislation overriding local voices, showed the government was trying to use local government as a scapegoat for the consequences of its top-down policies. "If they can get people angry at local government, rather than central government, that helps them," Weir said.
- This article was first published by Newsroom
