What Have They Done to the RMA?

I guess you could say there was quite a lot of idealism around when the Resource Management Act was enacted way back in 1991. It was the unlikely fruit of an unholy alliance between New Right thinking (about economic efficiency and devolved decision-making) and Environmental thinking (about saving the planet and encouraging local decision-making). You can see this reflected in the words used in the Act....

This is Clause 5, the highly debated and argued Purpose of the RMA. The enabling red bit came from the New Right, and the planet saving green bit came from the Environmentalists. Linked by the word "while". But how much planet saving is really going on with the RMA? I've put the "green" words in a smaller font. Because I don't think the two ideas are given equal weight at all in the RMA. I think we all can see what cumulative damage is being done to rivers, soil and ecosystems through consents obtained through RMA processes. So how should that purpose of the RMA really be visualised? If we were being honest about the RMA. I think it is much more like this....

I think this is Clause 5, as she is enacted in the street today.