Freshwater policy reform

What is changing

The coalition Government has consulted on reforms to national direction under the Resource Management Act (RMA).

These national changes will affect the rules in both national direction and regional plans, as well as the consents and permitted activity standards that farmers, catchment groups, and communities are working with.

DairyNZ submitted to the consultation on national freshwater direction. You can read our submission. Thank you to those who joined our levy payer webinars and informed our submission.

What changes to freshwater management were considered?

There are several policy proposals that will have an impact on farmers, including:

• Rebalancing Te Mana o te Wai and freshwater management objectives.
• Improving the National Objectives Framework.
• Enabling commercial vegetable growing.
• Addressing water security and water storage.
• Simplifying wetlands provisions and fish passage regulations.
• Addressing issues with farmer-facing regulations (e.g. N Cap).
• Mapping requirements for drinking water sources.

DairyNZ is prepared for freshwater reform

The DairyNZ policy and science teams have been proactively preparing for this consultation, working with independent experts to develop an alternative national freshwater management framework. This puts us in a strong position to deliver a constructive, science-based response.

We are looking to ensure consistency in positioning across the sectors through early and continuous engagement with other organisations.

Four key outcomes we are seeking in a new approach to freshwater management are:

• Practical and effective – a science-based approach that drives real improvement, encourages collaboration, and clearly links on-farm actions to freshwater outcomes.
• Outcome-focused – prioritising human and ecosystem health outcomes over strict contaminant limits as proxies for these outcomes.
• Farmer-led catchment level solutions – supporting catchment and farmer-led freshwater planning and delivery with a mix of regulatory and voluntary actions.
• Balanced policy – ensuring long-term environmental and economic sustainability with clear regulations and market confidence.

These changes are part of the coalition Government’s broader RMA reform programme. You can read about these changes and DairyNZ’s work at Resource management reform.