PROGRAMME

2.30 - 4.30pm

Academic session
Venue: Gascoigne Wicks

• Catherine Iorns | ‘Protecting Lizards during Land-use activities’ (VUW)
• Jono Sylvester | ‘Invertebrate Protection under the RMA’ (Corcoran French, & LLM candidate at VUW)
• Allan Brent | ‘Solar Farm Consenting’ (Allan Brent Consulting & VUW Research Fellow)
• Stephen Iorns | ‘RMA Enforcement with a Criminal Defence Lens’ (Rubicon Chambers)

3.00 - 7.00pm

Registration and information desk open
Venue: ASB Theatre | Theatre Foyer

4.30 - 7.00pm

Welcome reception
Venue: ASB Theatre | Theatre Foyer

8.20 - 8.40am

Mihi Whakatau

8.40 - 8.50am

Conference opening

Jesse Mulligan - Conference MC
Nadine Taylor - Mayor of Marlborough

8.50 - 9.20am

A brief 800-year history of Marlborough
Marlborough is a province of firsts, and lasts. Te Pokohiwi o Kupe, at the mouth of the Wairau River, was one of Aotearoa’s first sites of Polynesian settlement. On 17 June 1840, nine rangatira signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Port Underwood. This was the last of the South Island treaty signings. Three years later, on 17 June 1843, conflict erupted at Tuamarino, marking the beginning of the New Zealand wars. In 2014, Te Tauihu iwi settled their Treaty of Waitangi claims, completing historic treaty claims in the South Island. This is a brief 800-year history of Marlborough.

Dr Peter Meihana - Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa/Massey University

9.20 - 10.35am

Panel: Climate change and natural hazards – reduction and resilience
Climate change is the most significant challenge we are facing. It is and will continue to impact everyone and will require careful thought and integrated planning based on incomplete knowledge to both reduce the scale of change and build our resilience. It requires understanding the risks to our communities, industries and the environment and making collective, integrated and equitable decisions on adaptation and actions to the changes already activated in the global climate system as well as future changes. Let’s discuss how we will rise to meet these challenges. From changing storm patterns, frequency and scale impacting our infrastructure, to effects on primary producers on crop types and dealing with pests and disease due to altered weather and temperature patterns, while continuing to provide for our communities and iwi well-being and needs. Can actions around renewable energy solutions, resource use and circular economies put us on a path towards reduction and resilience?

Professor James Renwick – Researcher, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington
Ruth Berry – Advocacy Manager, Wine Marlborough
Alison Dewes – Vet, Ecologist, Farmer and Tipuwhenua
Emma Singh – Senior Natural Hazard and Climate Risk Consultant, Tonkin + Taylor
Jonathan Rowe - Programme Manager, South Dunedin Future
Corey Hebberd - Kaiwhakahaere Matua/General Manager, Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau

10.35 - 11.05am

Morning tea - kindly sponsored by Gascoigne Wicks
Theatre Foyer

Young RMLA | Morning tea
Anderson Theatre

11.05am - 12.30pm

Panel: Future of marine management
New Zealand has the nineth longest coastline in the world. 96% of New Zealand is under water. 85% of New Zealand’s wildlife could be in its oceans. While our entire resource management system is data deficient, it is worse in the oceans: we often do not know what we do not know.

Properly managed, our oceans present opportunities. For example, aquaculture and renewable energy generation will be further developed. How can we better manage our coastal environment as well as take advantage of what the blue economy has to offer?

Brad Coombs - Principal Landscape Architect, Isthmus
Raewyn Peart – Lawyer and Policy Manager, Environmental Defence Society
Maegan Blom – Operations Manager, Mills Bay Mussels
Oli Wade – Principal Coastal Scientist, Marlborough District Council
Penetaui Kleskovic - Councillor, Representative for Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward, Far North District Council

12.30 - 1.30pm

Lunch - kindly sponsored by Tonkin + Taylor
Theatre Foyer

1.30 - 2.25pm

Ministerial Address

Hon Chris Bishop - Minister for RMA Reform
Followed by Q&A session with Hon Chris Bishop, Simon Court, Janette Campbell moderated by Ben Farrell - RMLA President

2.25 - 2.35pm

10 minutes from Rachel Brooking

Hon Rachel Brooking - Labour's Spokesperson for Environment

2.35 - 3.05pm

Pānui Matua: Be careful what you wish for!
We are currently experiencing significant change as the government seeks to improve planning laws and ‘end the culture of NO’. Whilst there may be general agreement that the current legislation is no longer ‘fit for purpose’, we must tread carefully and thoughtfully.

How do we ensure we continue to achieve taiao and community outcomes, whilst also informing and influencing reform and change? What role, if any, do we play as practitioners to ensure that the solution does not embed a new problem? As the perception quickly becomes the reality we are at a point in time which has the potential to make the biggest change to Resource Management Policy in our life time. I will discuss what authentic connection and delivery can look like. What tools we need in our toolbox and the broader implications of being left standing at the start line. Finally, I will pose the question, what will we use as our measure of success when it comes to RM reform? Hint, it is NOT process efficiency!

Rawiri Faulkner - Pou Toa Matarau | Ahurea Taiao, Group Manager, Culture, Environment, Settlements

3.05 - 3.30pm

Afternoon tea
Theatre Foyer

3.30 - 4.10pm

Perspectives on reforming the resource management system
MfE’s Deputy Secretary Nadeine Dommisse, will introduce Janette Campbell, who led the Expert Advisory Group that wrote the blueprint on the new resource management reform. She will talk about developing the blueprint and the key system shifts needed for a better planning and resource management system.

Nadeine Dommisse - Deputy Secretary, Environmental Management and Adaptation, Ministry for the Environment
Janette Campbell - Barrister, Bankside Chambers

3.30 - 5pm

YRMLA Mooting Competition
Council Chambers

Walking bus departing front steps of ASB Theatre at 3:10pm

4.15 - 5.30pm

Ministry for the Environment workshop
With replacement of the RMA underway, MfE is keen to hear practitioners’ perspectives of how the system could work. Situated just after the MfE update on the replacement bill, this workshop will explore some of the building blocks of the new system.

Speakers: Nadeine Dommisse, Lesley Baddon and Janette Campbell
Facilitators: Rhedyn Law, Jess Bensemann, David Chittenden, Matthew Spiro and Evie Rainey

Case Law update
A RMLA Conference staple: This workshop will provide attendees with an overview of and the opportunity to discuss recent and significant cases involving key environmental and resource management matters

Mike Doesburg – Partner, Wynn Williams
Kate Woods – Special Counsel, Wynn Williams

Wildfires under a changing climate – risk reduction and adaptation
This workshop will take one natural hazard, wildfire, and look to discuss how our changing climate will affect their frequencies and scale and explore options to reduce harm and build resilience for our communities and environment in the future. Recent data from Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa shows Blenheim as having the highest average number of very high or extreme fire danger days per year for 30 sites monitored between 2014 and 2023. What could we expect our wildfire future to look like and how can we respond?

Katerina Pihera-Ridge - Indigenous Planner and Research Practitioner, New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited
Lou Wickham - Director, Emission Impossible

Shifting ground: Planning for tomorrow’s communities
As climate change intensifies, coastal communities face increasing risks from sea-level rise, flooding, and erosion. This workshop explores the critical role that spatial planning can play in effective adaptation - specifically through the lens of planned relocation.

Focusing on New Zealand’s first initiatives, including the planned relocation of Westport and Amberley Beach, the workshop will examine:

• Environmental, social, cultural, and economic drivers behind relocation decisions.
• Spatial planning tools and frameworks that support equitable and resilient transitions.
• Governance models and community engagement strategies that foster trust and long-term success.
• Lessons learned from this “ground shifting” work.

Through case studies, the workshop will demonstrate how place-based strategies can support safer, more sustainable futures for vulnerable communities.

Helen Kerr - Principal, Landscape Architecture, Isthmus

Energy matters: How to catch burnout before it catches you
A practical session for people who want to live and lead at the intersection of high-performance and wellbeing.

Burnout isn’t just about being tired. It’s the slow leak of energy, purpose, and joy, often invisible until we’re running on empty. It can creep in quietly, especially when we care deeply, lead others, or operate in high-pressure environments. In this session, we’ll unpack what burnout really is (and what it’s not), how to spot the early warning signs in ourselves and others, and what to do before it takes its toll. This session is ideal for everyone, especially those responsible for people, performance, or wellbeing - starting with your own. You’ll walk away with practical tools that help you feel more grounded, more energised, and better able to support the people who count on you.

Dr Bex Bell - Remix Coaching and Consulting

5.30pm

Day one concludes

5.30 - 9.30pm

Taste of Marlborough
The Wine + Food Experience Marlborough

The Wine and Food Experience is Blenheim’s newest immersive venue, celebrating the iconic vineyards and varietals that have put Marlborough’s wine on the world map. We are the first group to enjoy this brand-new experience at the Marlborough Event Centre next door. Upstairs, you’ll find over 40 premium wines – the very best wine the region has to offer – waiting for you in the innovative self-serve dispensers around the room.

You are the master of your tasting journey; choose any wine that takes your fancy, and fill your glass!

To use the dispensers: remove and re-insert the card in the dispenser, choose the size of your serving – a taste, half-glass, or full pour, hold your glass under the faucet, and enjoy! If you get stuck, friendly servers will show you the way. There is also a bar serving beer and non-alcoholic drinks.

This is a relaxed evening to sample and savour world-class wine in the afternoon sun, so if you’d like to freshen up between your workshop and the Taste of Marlborough event, there is plenty of time to join the fun. Doors open from 5:30 pm and you’re welcome to come and go as you please until 9.30pm.

7.00 - 8.20am

Regional Chairs Breakfast (invitation only)

8.20 - 8.30am

Welcome to day two

Jesse Mulligan - Conference MC

8.30 - 9.00am

Thought from the Court
Come and hear some current thoughts from the Environment Court.

Judge John Hassan - Environment Court

9.00 - 10.00am

Keynote: Planning for the future - getting real about the law jobs that matter
Resource management law is not a magic wand – it is a bundle of law jobs. These jobs need to be done ‘well’. There are five law ‘jobs’ in resource management law that particularly matter: defining environmental problems; creating and enforcing legal obligations; administrative competence; dealing with trouble cases; and ensuring accountability. In carrying out and reforming these law jobs ‘well’ there is a need to: exercise legal imagination not wishful thinking; take legal calculability seriously; and aspire to the ongoing management of environmental quality not resolving the quality question for ever.

Prof Elizabeth Fisher - Professor of Environmental Law, Faculty of Law, Corpus Christi College

10.00 - 10.30am

Morning tea - kindly sponsored by Isthmus
Theatre Foyer

RMLA AGM
Auditorium

10.30 - 11.30am

Panel: Water Water Water – fundamental freshwater futures
Freshwater, it has many forms, affects our lives in many ways and is core component of our environments. For Māori, freshwater is taonga, with deep cultural and spiritual relationships. So much has tried to be defined, discussed, legislated, unlegislated and yet we have still not found balance or reconciliation between the wellbeing of the environment and our basic human need to use this resource for our social and economic wellbeing. We are currently awash with political and legislative opinions which are increasingly divergent. Questions about the allocation, environmental limits, ecosystem health and decision-making may raise many perspectives and debates. What does not change is the fundamental fact that healthy freshwater underpins all our well beings irrelevant of what it is called or how we choose to define its priority. So how can we move into a future that recognises our inherent connection to freshwater and protects and enhances it while still enabling its use as a critical resource?

Simon Upton – Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
Jade Wikaira - Managing Director, Wikaira Consulting
Marnie Prickett - Research Fellow, University of Otago
Guy Lissaman - Winegrower and Farmer, Trelawne Awatere Valley
John Bright - Director, Aqualinc Research

11.30am - 12.30pm

Panel: Spatial Planning into the future
How can spatial planning be used to help us navigate the challenges of integration locally, regional, nationally and legislatively? Anticipating and responding to population growth, climate change and natural hazard adaptation and resilience? Provide for environmental protection and enhancement? Regional deals, special economic zones and new infrastructure value capture, what part can these types of mechanisms play in providing for well-functioning rural and urban areas which enhance our social and economic wellbeing? What are the opportunities and challenges with the proposed national standardisation for zoning? Resource management reforms are looking to spatial planning to enable development through building a strong evidence base to map major constraints, identifying existing and future infrastructure corridors, future urban areas, and growth and development opportunities, can they achieve all this? How does the spatial planning system help us to identify the critical choices needed for our changing environment?

Pere Hawes - Head of Environmental Policy, Marlborough District Council
Matt Kerr - Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group Manager, Marlborough Emergency Management
Michelle McCormick - Policy Director, Infrastructure New Zealand
Adele Hadfield - Strategy and Planning Manager, Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council
Emily Grace - Principal Policy Advisor, Te Kōkiringa Taumata, New Zealand Planning Institute

12.30pm

Lunch
Theatre Foyer

From 12.30pm
All fieldshops will have you back at the ASB Theatre (conference venue) by 5.30pm.

From ‘grave robbers’ to collaborators
In 2009 Rangitāne, in collaboration with Canterbury Museum and the University of Otago, repatriated koiwi tangata (ancestral remains) back to Te Pokohiwi o Kupe (Wairau Bar). This was a remarkable achievement particularly when we consider the very fraught history between the iwi and the archeological and museum communities. The repatriation afforded a unique opportunity to learn more about the day to day lives of Aotearoa-NZ’s first people. Since then, Rangitāne has worked alongside researchers to grow our understanding of the world tūpuna discovered, and the world we in the present must deal with. This session asks the question: how did ‘grave robbers’ became collaborators?

This fieldshop will take you on a tour of our local sites where you can hear the pūrākau, experience our cultural history and find the answers, followed by a visit to Astrolabe Wines Small Town Winery, Blenheim’s local urban winery and cellar door.

Kura Te Au (Tory Channel)
Kura Te Au (Tory Channel) is where Kupe killed the giant octopus, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, causing its blood to run through the channel, turning the water red. In this drowned valley, the cool water and strong currents give life to ecologically significant marine sites along its margins and is a significant source of mahinga kai. It is a main thoroughfare for inter-island ferries, the centre of New Zealand’s salmon farming industry and the erstwhile home of Perano Whaling Station, the last whaling operation in New Zealand which closed in 1964. That alongside forestry, farming, tourism and other aquaculture Kura Te Au is a veritable cauldron of resource management issues.

Many Voices, One Vision – Te Hoiere Project
The Te Hoiere project is a nationally recognised catchment care programme working to restore the mauri of the land, waters, and coast in the area and implement the regional plan on the ground. This Field shop will include visits to multiple aspects of the project, including areas being restored as habitat for the Pekapeka bat, a native taonga species and New Zealand’s only native land mammal. Just as the Te Hoiere Project has brought together multiple parties including iwi, Council, farmers and Department of Conservation, this field shop brings together the past land uses, current efforts, and future aspirations for long-term outcomes for the area to benefit present and future generations to come.

Wine in a million!
How did Marlborough become a world leader in viticulture and Sauvignon Blanc? Instead of keeping the answer bottled up, this field shop will explore the journey that this region has undertaken over the last 50 years to end up as an internationally recognised wine producing area. The complex and never-ending resource management matters spanning freshwater, land, and spatial planning which have evolved to support this land use are unique to this area and this field shop is designed to be a robust discussion on past, present, and future issues facing the sector and region. Before you ask, yes.

Wine is included in this field shop!

Sun and Salt
Most of the world’s salt works are close to the equator, but not this one! The very same high sunshine hours, low summer rainfall, and warm nor’westers which cause headaches for South Marlborough farmers are the crucial factors for success in New Zealand’s only solar evaporative salt field. Operating at Lake Grassmere/Kāpara-Te-Hau since World War 1, the fields now cover around 1,400 hectares. This field shop will include a guided tour of the area before moving on to explore the Seaview solar farm. Both locations comprise unique production systems spanning a variety of complex resource management issues which will only become more intricate with a changing climate.

Don’t be salty about missing out, secure your spot today!

Wilderness Guides Cycling
Get your cycling fix during the conference without the hassle of bringing one with you!

Perfect for two-wheel addicts, adrenaline junkies, and those who are sick of making small talk - this field shop will take attendees from Blenheim through to Picton where Wilderness Guides will equip with a bike (and trail map) to suit any height or persuasion. There are multiple trails in the surrounding area, with expansive views through to the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui, perfect for an afternoon out and about in the fresh air. Attendees can take their time or race each other back to the pub for a refreshing beverage. Suitable for most fitness levels.

Kaipupu Point Reserve
Perfect for those who like a high step count!

An exemplar in conservation efforts within a highly developed area, Kaipupu Point Sanctuary is located just out of Picton and between two busy port operations. A short boat ride will take attendees out to the sanctuary, where passionate volunteers will guide the group through the conservation area and discuss local restoration efforts. Then, attendees will have the opportunity to view Shakespeare Bay, highlighting the juxtaposition between the pristine natural environment and a working port. The wider area is chock-a-block with resource management activities within a small area and in the future, will house updated ferry infrastructure.

Spatial planning from new heights!
Take to the skies for a 1 hour 20-minute scenic flight that showcases the beauty of Marlborough and the Sounds. Departing from Koromiko, you’ll follow the Wairau River over rolling vineyards before heading north across Kenepuru and Pelorus Sound. Fly over D’Urville Island and touch down at a remote ocean-side airstrip in Port Gore for 20 minutes to take in the surroundings. The return journey takes you over Cape Jackson and Ship Cove before landing back in Koromiko.

Tiny trains and vintage planes!
Embark on a voyage back in time and ponder the future of our region during this field shop, which will tour Brayshaw Heritage Park and the Omaka Heritage Centre. Both world class facilities, Brayshaw Heritage Park celebrates Marlborough’s diverse history with an exquisitely accurate historical living village, while Omaka Heritage Centre pays tribute to aviation feats of the last 100 years in minute detail.

Included in this tour is a miniature train ride – what more could you ask for?!

7.00pm - 11.30pm

Conference dinner and Annual RMLA Awards
Omaka Heritage Museum

Fly high with us to the annual conference dinner, where we will award outstanding contributions to resource management law while surrounded by incredible feats of aviation history. In keeping with our surrounds, this year’s committee invites all attendees to join in themed dress of “Golden Age of Aviation”. Think vintage furs, pilot uniforms, and glamour travel – no sweatsuits allowed! Further information will be released closer to the time, but we encourage everyone to start gathering their costumes now - protecting our environment by shopping second hand, borrowing from friends, or wearing something you already own. It can be as little or much as you like, or as a nod to the theme.

We can’t wait to see everyone’s creations!