National leader Christopher Luxon said he is "sceptical" about the Government's overhaul of the RMA, saying the changes are still too big and add another layer of bureaucracy.
The new reforms announced yesterday aim to make the Resource Management Act less complex with the hope that it will increase the housing supply and save $149 million on consenting costs.
Luxon told Breakfast that while National shares the same goal of improving the RMA, the new reforms won't change anything and would take too long to be put in place - roughly 10 years.
"We're quite sceptical of what's being proposed. We all agree on the end - we need to be able to build a house much quicker, we need to make sure we're protecting our environment, what we've got has become unworkable.
"But to be honest, I don't think that much is actually going to change despite what the Government will be trying to spin and say.
"We've got a whole new layer of bureaucracy involved, we've got a lot of uncertainty that will need to be changed and challenged in courts - and more importantly it's taking 10 years to get implemented," Luxon said.
He said that building new houses is an urgent issue in New Zealand and that his party would make it faster to implement changes.
One of the ways he said he would do it is to scrap the proposed regional planning committees. He said this will save the time it would take to actually find the people sitting on these committees.
He also wants to see more fast-track consents, saying it should be the "norm, not the exception".
Luxon said National would strip the legislation down to remove the bureaucratic process and make it clear to developers what the outcome is going to be.
Environment Minister David Parker told Breakfast that the legislation is something that will improve the lives of those who deal in property, even if it takes a while.
The environment minister says that the legislation will make building easier.
"For the people who use the system, they're the people that are going to save the money because it'll be clearer for them, the rules will be more consistent, plan formats will be the same up and down the country," he said.
Parker also said that other parties taking shots at the legislation was unfounded as Labour is the only party to actually propose reform.
"It's a bit disappointing that some of the other political parties are responding politically, we seem to be in a climate where any substantial change is opposed.
"Other parties have called for the repeal of the RMA for years, so have we and we’re getting on and doing it," Parker said.
For those in the industry, the legislation is supported, while not being perfect.
John Tookey said it was a "good compromise" to current legislation.
AUT building professor John Tookey told Breakfast the changes were a "good compromise", but will need time to be put in place.
"Ultimately we're dealing with systems but we're changing lots of people's understanding of how the world works.
"In order to get a systematic way of doing business across the country as a whole that takes a lot of work," he said.
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