5620 (2024). Lan Pham to the Minister for the Environment

5620 (2024). Lan Pham to the Minister for the Environment: What evidence, if any, does the Minister have that te mana o te wai has had an impact on processing of individual consents?

Hon Penny Simmonds: There are two types of evidence that Te Mana o Te Wai has had an impact on the processing of individual consents. The first is that some regional councils required consent applicants to demonstrate how their proposed activities adhered to the hierarchy of obligations, which sits in the objective and Te Mana o Te Wai provisions within the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020. The second is that some councils referred to the hierarchy of obligations as a contributing factor in decisions not to grant consent applications.