Supporting effective, equitable and fair compensation settings
- An incentive payment of 10 percent of land value for landowners who agree to voluntarily sell their property before a notice of intention is issued – with a minimum payment of $5,000 and a maximum of $100,000. Note, the proposed incentive payments sit alongside those given effect to by the Critical Infrastructure amendments, which provide for an additional incentive to reflect the critical nature of those projects.
- Recognising the disruption caused by acquisition, by increasing the home-loss base payment, from $35,000 to $50,000, and the land-loss minimum and maximum payment amounts from $250 to $350 and $25,000 to $35,000, respectively.
- Extending home-loss eligibility where there are multiple owners and more than one dwelling on a parcel of land.
- Requiring that Māori freehold land is valued as if it is general land when it is acquired for a public work.
- Requiring that parties try to resolve compensation disputes through mediation or alternative dispute resolution before going to the Land Valuation Tribunal.
Streamlining land acquisition powers and processes
- Enabling Transpower to initiate and undertake some PWA processes through the PWA.
- Allowing government agencies to coordinate land acquisition for connected public works projects, rather than each agency acquiring land separately.
- Allowing PWA users to acquire land when they need to move third-party assets (like powerlines or pipes) that are in the way of new public works, if that third-party would be able to use the PWA or RMA to acquire the land needed.
- Introducing joint decision-making by the Minister for Land Information and relevant Māori portfolio Minister for compulsory acquisition of protected Māori land by the Crown.
Providing targeted improvements to objections proceedings
- Clarifying what the Environment Court can consider when reviewing objections to acquisitions, to enable disputes to be resolved efficiently and address overlap with the RMA.
- Requiring objectors to state the grounds for their objection, and clarify that compensation disputes are not within scope.
- Ensuring landowners receive comprehensive information on the acquisition, their rights, entitlements, and an invitation to sell, prior to a notice of intention being issued.
- Ensuring the Minister or local authority negotiates with landowners in good faith for at least three months (or six months for Māori freehold land), prior to a notice of intention being issued.
Emergency provisions
Introducing an emergency recovery land acquisition process that can be activated by Order in Council following an emergency with appropriate safeguards, rather than requiring bespoke legislation. It sets out a standard process for emergency recovery that:
- reduces negotiation requirements and simplifies acquisition processes
- provides a limited submission process to the decision-maker (rather than objections to the Environment Court)
- excludes protected Māori land, and
- provides entitlements to incentive payments whether or not land is acquired by agreement.