The Government's "Loopy Rules" report is ostensibly for New Zealanders who are "fed up wasting time and money trying to work out loopy rules", but is a little-disguised PR exercise focused on RMA reform.
The report - available here - is dressed up in an entertaining manner and develops its anti-red tape theme with snappy sub-heads such as "Climate of Fear", "20 Day Illusion", and for forth.
Most of the issues raised in the report relate to concerns stemming from local authorities and concerns expressed by builders, trades people and of course home owners frustrated by issues relating to their homes.
The taskforce comprised co-chairs Jacqui Dean, the National MP, Michael Barnett, the Auckland Chamber of Commerce CEO.
In the last few months we have travelled around New Zealand listening to people in their communities.
We have also met with councils, sector interest groups, and government agencies. We thank all those
who have candidly shared their frustrations and given us their views on how rules could be changed to
make more sense
We did hear of rules that protect people, the environment, infrastructure and our heritage but which
still enable individuals, businesses and our economy to prosper and grow. But we are struck by the
number of instances where the good intentions of the rule-makers are somehow lost in the translation
to the real world.
The taskforce set up to prepare the report deal with these issues by saying that the
Council behaviour is due to the leaky building crisis but would be better dealt with by
leaving more up to the builders to ensure their work is up to standard.
Another risky strategy, surely?
The report states that "loopy rules are everywhere", but it fails to deliver ground-breaking
changes and some of those identified by the task force are actually non-existent anyway.
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