New Zealand’s ACT Party has proposed changes to the country’s planning laws aimed at preventing resource consents from requiring developers to participate in or financially support religious or spiritual practices, such as karakia. The policy was outlined by ACT’s Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change spokesperson, Simon Court, on October 3.
Under the proposed reforms, planning legislation would explicitly exclude spiritual and religious effects from consideration in resource consenting processes. The changes would also prohibit compulsory spiritual observances as conditions for development approval. Additionally, the current environmental management principle Te Mana o te Wai, which integrates spiritual and cultural values related to freshwater, would be replaced with measurable freshwater outcomes.
Court emphasized that developers should be able to undertake projects like building houses, solar farms, or factories without being mandated to engage in spiritual ceremonies or cover their costs. He argued that planning law should focus on effects that are identifiable, measurable, and legally recognized, rather than forcing regulatory bodies to make decisions based on religious or spiritual beliefs.
Recent legal cases have seen spiritual effects become an increasingly prominent part of New Zealand’s resource management system, Court noted. He cited examples where housing developments were required to invite iwi to conduct karakia before construction could begin, with the developer responsible for the expense.
The proposed policy follows the passage of the new Planning Act and Natural and Built Environment Act, which received Royal assent earlier this week. Court described these laws as significant improvements over the previous Resource Management Act (RMA) because they do not include the RMA’s requirement to consider spiritual values. However, he warned that simply omitting spiritual considerations does not prevent them from being introduced under broader cultural-effects provisions, which could leave councils and courts to determine their relevance on a case-by-case basis.
Court clarified that the proposed changes would not remove protections for tangible heritage elements such as urupā (burial grounds), archaeological sites, customary uses, water quality, ecosystems, or rights established through Treaty of Waitangi settlement legislation. Instead, they seek to ensure that spiritual claims—which Court characterized as “spiritual propositions”—are not adjudicated within the planning system.
The ACT Party’s initiative reflects ongoing debates over the role of spiritual and cultural values in New Zealand’s environmental and resource management framework, balancing recognition of indigenous and cultural interests with clear regulatory boundaries for development projects.