The Minister for the Environment (the Minister) is satisfied that the order—

• is necessary or desirable for 1 or more purposes of the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Act 2023 (the SWERLA):

• is no broader than is reasonably necessary to address the matters that gave rise to the order:

• does not breach section 11 of the SWERLA:

• does not limit or is a justified limit on the rights and freedoms in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

The Minister is satisfied, for the following reasons, that the order is—

• necessary or desirable for 1 or more purposes of the SWERLA; and

• appropriate.

The modification made by the order will assist with the planning, rebuilding, and recovery of affected communities and persons, including—

• the rebuilding of land, infrastructure, and other property of affected communities or of any affected persons; and

• facilitating co-ordinated efforts and processes for short-term, medium-term, and long-term recovery; and

• facilitating the restoration and improvement of the economic, social, and cultural well-being, and enhancing the resilience, of affected communities or of any affected persons.

Allowing existing water permit holders who (due to the severe weather events) missed the opportunity to lodge replacement resource consent applications within the time frames set out in section 124 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (the RMA) (at least 3 months prior to the expiry of their existing consents) to continue to operate under section 124 of the RMA enables a range of industry, farming, and supporting activities to continue to lawfully operate while the replacement applications are being considered by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and any subsequent appeals are resolved.

The Minister is satisfied that the order is not broader than is reasonably necessary for the following reasons.

The order is limited to resource consents that expired between 12 and 31 May 2023 and for which new applications for the same activity were lodged with the consent authority in the 3 months before the consent expired. It is further limited to water permits to take, or take and use, water issued by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. The order is geographically limited to sites in any of the Tūtaekurī, Ahuriri, Ngaruroro, or Karamū catchments.

The order will remain in effect until the SWERLA expires, due to the potential for replacement applications to be subject to lengthy appeal processes. Once a replacement water permit application has been decided, and there are no outstanding appeals, the order will no longer apply to that expired consent. As such, the impact of the order will reduce as replacement water permit applications are decided.

The modification chosen departs least from the status quo as it applies the same approach to the expired consents as would apply under section 124 of the RMA, with the exception that if the new application is not dealt with by the time the order is revoked, the expired consent can no longer be relied upon.

Enabling existing consent holders to continue to exercise consents while new applications are being decided enables communities to continue to provide for their well-being, health, and safety as they relate to water use in the relevant catchments. Consent holders are required to continue to comply with all conditions imposed on their existing, now expired, consents to avoid, remedy, or mitigate adverse effects of activities on the environment.

The order is temporary in nature and focused on ensuring those water permit holders who missed the window to lodge replacement resource consent applications because of the severe weather events can continue to take and use water subject to replacement applications having been lodged and complying with existing consent conditions.

The following preconditions for recommending the making of an order have also been satisfied:

• the draft order has been reviewed by the Severe Weather Events Recovery Review Panel:

• the draft order has been provided to the Regulations Review Committee:

• the Minister has had regard to the recommendations and comments provided by those bodies:

• the engagement process under section 9 of the SWERLA has been complied with:

• the Minister has considered—

  • the effects on the environment that could occur as a result of the order; and

  • whether any adverse effects can be avoided, remedied, or mitigated.