Government quietly removes access to environmental justice

Last week’s budget announcement was a highly disheartening occasion for access to justice. The decision to quietly abolish the Environmental Legal Assistance Fund - Te Mana Rauhī Taio - as part of Budget 24 will have significant impacts.

The fund has been around since 2001 and has provided support for ENGOs and iwi to engage in resource management matters, subject always to strict merit assessments by independent panels. This fund played a crucial role in supporting environmental groups and hapū in navigating resource consent and planning appeal procedures and thereby exercising their kaitiakitanga responsibilities. It enabled them to enlist expert witnesses such as freshwater ecologists, marine biologists, and RMA planners whose evidence is regularly critical to the outcome of the case; as well as securing legal counsel, thereby contributing to partially balancing the scales of justice.

The fund will close at the end of the 2023/2024 financial year.