Rodney Hide, who is Minister of Local Government, Minister of  
Regulatory Reform, and Associate Minister of Commerce, is now  
"Minister for Ending the Depression" (MED) because the LGA, the RMA,  
and the Commerce Act are the key to enabling NZ to build its way out  
of the depression.

In many ways the LGA is now more of a threat to economic growth than  
the RMA. Both need to be reformed at the same time – and  Rodney has  
the authority to deal with both under his new brief.  He is Minister  
of Local Government, and all RMA Regional and District Plans are  
Regulations – and Rodney is in charge of Regulatory Reform.

The Coalition Agreement between the National Part and Act says:

6. Resource Management Act
National and ACT agree to promote investment, jobs, wages, employment
and prosperity, as well as environmental improvement, through
amendments to the RMA. The National-led government will establish a
high quality advisory group to recommend short-term amendments to the
RMA, including but not confined to those which National has put
forward, as a basis for select committee consideration early in 2009.
The membership of the group and its terms of reference will be agreed
between National and ACT.
Beyond the short term, consideration will be given to further
improvements, including better mechanisms for water allocation and
compensation for regulatory takings of property rights. High quality
advisory groups will be established for such tasks.

This means that Rodney Hide has quite a free rein to respond to the  
economic crisis by promoting reforms to the RMA which are over and  
above those listed as National Party policy prior to the election, and  
which were obviously developed before the full impact of the collapses  
of the housing and financial bubbles made itself felt in New Zealand.

For the whole agreement between National and Act go to the National  
Party website (www.national.org.nz), click on the National/ACT press  
statement, and then click on the agreement itself – or go directly  
here for the pdf.

Also as Leighton Smith's callers demonstrated on the Monday morning  
after the announcement of Cabinet, the Building Act is as big an  
obstacle to economic recovery as the RMA.

Maurice Williamson is Minister of Building and Construction and  
Minister of Small Business, so he is perfectly placed to be "Joint  
Minister for Ending the Depression" in partnership with Rodney Hide.

The two of them hold the future of the private sector of the economy  
in their hands.

Having both these Ministers outside cabinet is good politics because  
the new policies they will have to come up to promote economic  
recovery cannot be attacked by the opposition as being John Key's  
"secret agenda" – although it won't stop them trying. But in reply  
the Prime Minister can simply say "No, these two Ministers are outside  
Cabinet and they have sought advice from panels of independent experts  
who have focussed on the need to enable the private sector to make the  
investments which will drive economic recovery."

With Rodney dealing with the big issues in the LGA and RMA, and with  
Maurice dealing with the mountain of regulations burying the building  
and construction sector and small business as well, we might have a  
chance of getting the country moving again. The legislation  
surrounding building permits in NZ is a disaster and it keeps getting  
worse because it is founded on the indefinite liability of Councils  
for their permitted procedures. This is unlike any other OECD  
jurisdiction that I am aware of. We can never build our way out of  
recession while the Building Act remains as it it – with Councils  
trying to cover themselves against litigation – for ever and a day.