Pitched as scrapping the Resource Management Act — long blamed for blocking housing and infrastructure — and replacing it with a faster, cheaper system.

The Policy: National RMA Reform Policy — 2023 Election →

What it does:

• The plan: repeal the RMA and replace it with two laws — a Planning Act and a Natural Environment Act — separating land-use planning from environmental protection (RNZ).
• The approach: phased; the two bills had their first reading on 16 December 2025, with submissions open until 13 February 2026 and the aim to pass before the 2026 election (Beehive).

The impacts to watch (past the politics):

• Less red tape means more building — but infrastructure has to keep pace. Recent intensification is already blamed for suburban traffic and parking congestion (NZ Herald), and Auckland Council argues the binding constraint is infrastructure it cannot fund fast enough — roads that often cannot be widened, plus stormwater, wastewater and schools (NZ Herald).
• Schools feel it first: the 4,000-plus-home Carrington (Te Kukūnga Waka) development has schools such as Avondale College warning of roll growth, with the Ministry of Education signalling a new school may be needed (NZ Herald).
• Pushback and the courts: large projects can still stall — a 4,500-home Mt Albert plan was partially halted by a court challenge (NZ Herald).
• Who builds it: alongside the reforms, the Government opened build-to-rent housing to overseas investment via a 2024 Overseas Investment Act change, inviting foreign capital into rental development (RNZ).

The result (in progress):

Still in train — promised, designed and introduced, but not yet law. Minister Chris Bishop and supporters argue it will unlock housing, speed infrastructure and end a culture of "no"; critics warn it risks weakening environmental safeguards and local input, and Māori representatives (e.g. Ngāti Manuhiri's Ataria MacDonald) say it raises hard Treaty questions (DLA Piper). The deeper risk critics flag: consenting faster without funding the roads, pipes and schools to match could simply shift the bottleneck from paperwork to infrastructure. Verdict: consequential and advancing, but the real test is whether building faster comes with the means to live with it.