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Local Government (Rating of Whenua Maori) Legislation Amendment Bill (Consistent) [2020] NZBORARp 8 (11 February 2020)
Last Updated: 25 March 2020
11 February 2020
LEGAL ADVICE
LPA 01 01 24
Hon David Parker, Attorney-General
Consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990: Local Government
(Rating of Whenua Māori) Legislation Amendment Bill
- We
have considered whether the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori)
Legislation Amendment Bill (‘the Bill’)
is consistent with the
rights and freedoms affirmed in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
(‘the Bill of Rights Act’).
- The
Bill’s primary objectives are to support the development of, and provision
of housing on, Māori land, and to modernise
rating legislation affecting
Māori land. The Bill principally amends the Local Government Rating Act
2002 (“the Rating
Act”), with minor amendments to the Te Ture Whenua
Māori Act 1993, the Rates Rebate Act 1973 and the Māori Land Court
Fees Regulations 2013.
- The
Bill provides powers for local authorities to:
- write
off rates arrears where they cannot be recovered, or in the case of Māori
land, where a person has inherited rate arrears
from a deceased owner;
- make
unused Māori land non-rateable;
- create
a statutory remission process to promote rates remissions for Māori
freehold land under development;
- allow
the ratepayer for multiple rating units of Māori freehold land to apply to
have them treated as one for the purposes of
calculating rates; and,
- allow
for multiple homes on rating unit of Māori freehold land to have separate
rate accounts if the owner requests.
- The
Bill also:
- removes
land area restrictions from rates exemptions for marae and urupā;
- provides
protection to Māori land made general land by amendments to the Māori
Affairs Act in 1967 from abandoned land and
rating sale provisions of the Rating
Act;
- clarifies
the current exemption for marae, meeting places and meeting houses in the Rating
Act;
- clarifies
the obligations on trustees not liable to pay rates for lack of income derived
from land held in trust; and,
- includes
new purpose statements in the provisions of the Rating Act and the Local
Government Act 2002 relating to Māori land
rating.
- We
have concluded that the Bill appears to be consistent with the rights and
freedoms affirmed in the Bill of Rights Act.
Jeff Orr
Chief Legal Counsel Office of Legal Counsel
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