By: Misha Henaghan and Matt Hutcheson
As part of Government’s planned reform of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), the first major step is the introduction of the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill (Bill). The Bill proposes a range of changes to consenting and planning rules, and two important changes that will directly impact statutory liability insurance claims:
- Maximum fines are to increase to $1 million for individuals (from $300,000), and $10 million for companies and other non-individuals (from $600,000).
- It will be unlawful to insure against fines, and there will be a specific offence for insuring fines or having an insurance policy in place for coverage of fines.
The increased fines and the prohibition on insuring fines will commence immediately upon Royal Assent of the Bill. However, the creation of an offence for insuring a fine will not take effect until 2 years after Royal Assent. This delay recognises that insurers will need time to adjust statutory liability policies to remove indemnity for RMA fines.
The increase in fines will not apply to charges laid before Royal Assent, as those charges would be filed under the prior offence provisions of the RMA. However, the prohibition against insuring fines will apply to those cases. This means that any fine imposed after Royal Assent will be uninsurable, and any policy clause providing indemnity for fines will unenforceable. We recommend insurers address this with brokers and insureds now, to ensure they are aware of the upcoming limitations of cover. Importantly, this change will not apply retrospectively to any indemnity provided for fines before Royal Assent.
The Bill passed its third reading in Parliament on 14 August 2025. We expect Royal Assent will occur within the next few days, after which it will become law.