Thread: Natural and built environment bill.

https://environment.govt.nz/about-us...%20Environment.

That link should take you to the OIA submission page for MfE. From there you can submit an OIA request on the Bill.

If I were submitting this request, I would ask questions like 1) how many sporting organisations/associations, (including but not limited to) national representative organisations, such as fish and game, NZDA, GAC, were consulted during this process, 2) I request any and all correspondence from 2021 - 2022 relating to policy decisions they may affect the identified recreational user groups above 3) I request information on what groups/stakeholders were reached out to for comment during the policy development stage and did this include any of the aforementioned organisations etc. 4) I request all submissions received on the Bill and any policy documents including reports to and from the Minister's Office regarding the Bill..

I would then synthesize this info, identify the opposition party member in the Select Committee that the Bill is being referred to and pass on this information and raise my concerns with them. You can call them or email them and they will raise your concerns at Select Committee. Believe it or not, they generally will raise issues brought forth by their constituents.

Honestly though, this really should have been brought to the attention of users way back in 2021 by orgs like Fish and Game when the Bill was being developed and consulted on. Maybe it was and I can't remember. By the time you do all this it will be too late for Select Committee stage, however there is still time for SOPs (Supplementary Order Papers) at the Committee of the Whole House stage where the Bill will be debated in detail so it really is worth contacting the MPs during this entire process. If they don't hear from you, they really won't know a out your concerns.

Whatever feelings you have towards NZDA, they sure as hell have recently embedded themselves in this process and evaluate how Bills like this affect their users and make well thought-out submissions on behalf of their users. Really highlights the importance of representatives orgs and the important role that they can play.

I got the email from Fish and Game as well, but this is just way the fk too late. I mean, submissions close on the 5th of Feb and the email was sent out like the end of last week. Public submissions are usually open for 5 weeks so this really should have been brought to our attention earlier, or more should have been spent on raising this issue amongst our user groups etc. Fk me.