Photo: Sally Round
Access to water, food production as a priority, and land use classifications are some of the issues primary sector groups are considering with the government's proposed new resource management legislation.
Public hearings into the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill - which would replace the Resource Management Act - continued during the Environment Select Committee this week.
Primary sector groups generally supported the intent of resource management reform, but requested further changes to the drafts from the government.
The Environment Select Committee will consider all submissions before reporting back to Parliament by the end of June.
It said 2242 written submissions were publicly available, but the total number of submissions was confidential to the committee.
Wine
Water was a key issue for the country's winemakers who warned that future access would likely become more difficult with climate change in a competitive market for users.
Wine vineyards covered around 44,000 hectares across Aotearoa, with the majority in Marlborough. The sector used water usually for irrigation, frost protection and then in winemaking.
New Zealand Winegrowers general manager for sustainability Dr Edwin Massey told the select committee on Monday, t
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