National Leader Judith Collins is claiming victory after Labour’s Resource Management Act (RMA) Working Group has finally recommended this morning to scrap the RMA and replacing it with a Natural and Built Environments Act and a Strategic Planning Act.

“The Working Group has come up with almost exactly what National has been saying for three years,” Ms Collins said.

“Labour has wasted three long years with RMA working groups when it could have done what National has been saying in the first place.

“The three wasted years means New Zealand is in much worse shape to invest and grow our way out of the economic and jobs crisis than we should have been.

“Labour’s dithering will cost tens of thousands of jobs over the months ahead that could have been saved had Phil Twyford, Shane Jones and the rest of them just got on with it three years ago. National’s BusinessStart and JobsStart are absolutely essential to fill that gap.

“Investors, developers, workers and voters can’t trust Labour and the Greens to deliver on repealing the job-killing RMA.

“National will introduce legislation to Parliament within our first year giving effect to today’s recommendations. We will pass it all before the end of our first term. The RMA is gone under National.”