Hearings

Board of Inquiry – Proposed New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2008 hearing procedures

Introduction

1. These procedures describe how the Board of Inquiry (the Board) intends to conduct the hearing of submissions to the Proposed New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2008 (the proposal). Prior to the hearings these procedures will be circulated to submitters for their information and assistance. Subject to the statutory provisions for the conduct of these hearings these procedures may be amended, or particular exemptions granted, at the Chairperson’s discretion.

Objectives

2. The objectives of the hearings are:

• To provide an effective and efficient opportunity for the Board to receive and consider information relevant to the proposal.
• To provide a fair and orderly opportunity for all who made submissions on the proposal and wish to be heard, to put their points of view before the Board and provide relevant information for its consideration.

Principles

3. To achieve these objectives, the following principles should guide the procedures adopted:

a) The procedures should be sufficiently formal to be fair to all parties and to allow the orderly presentation and testing of information, but not so formal as to inhibit lay people from taking part effectively.

b) The procedures should be robust, and should inspire the confidence of the submitters and the public.

c) The inquiry should not have the character of an adversarial contest between parties.

d) The procedures should be cost-effective in the demands on the time and costs of all taking part.

Location, scheduling and order of hearings

4. The Board will select locations and timeframes for the hearings having regard to:

• The number of submitters who wish to be heard in an area or region;
• The accessibility of locations for members of the Board, submitters and witnesses; and
• The costs and effectiveness of multiple hearing venues.

5. Every person who made a submission and who stated that they wish to be heard will be asked to identify where, when and for what length of time they wish to be heard.

6. From those responses, the Board will prepare a hearing schedule including a provisional programme of the timeframes in which submitters are likely to be heard. This will be provided in advance to the submitters. Because of uncertainty about the length of presentations and questioning, it will not be practicable to ensure that the provisional programme of timeframes is adhered to. The Chairperson will, at the outset, and at appropriate stages throughout the hearing, direct the order and timing of presentations.

7. Submitters are not obliged to attend the hearing. Their submissions will still be read and considered by the Board.

8. Each submitter who requested to be heard shall be heard in the order set out in the hearing schedule. This will occur as follows:

(a) The submitter or their representative shall present their submissions and any evidence although, at the discretion of the Chairperson, parts or all of these may be taken as read.

(b) Members of the Board of Inquiry may ask questions of the submitter (or their representative or witnesses) about their submissions and/or evidence.

(c) Only the Chairperson or other members of the Board of Inquiry may question any submitter, representative or witness. Cross-examination is not permitted.

Evidence

9. Submitters shall make any expert evidence available to the Board of Inquiry at least five working days before the hearing. Such information may be made available electronically by emailing it to: nzcpsreview@doc.govt.nz

10. The Board of Inquiry may accept evidence not provided in accordance with procedure nine above at the Chairperson’s discretion. Every submitter who wants to speak to their submission without calling evidence may do so without having to pre-circulate the submission again.

11. On the day of the hearing submitters their representatives and witnesses shall make available at least 10 copies of any written submissions or evidence for the use of the Board of Inquiry, other submitters and news media.

Use of Maori language

12. Any submitter or witness may elect to speak Maori or to present evidence written in Maori. An indication of the intention to present evidence in Maori five working days prior to the hearing is required.

Hearings generally to be public

13. The hearings will generally be open to the public.

14. The Board may of its own motion or on the application of any submitter to the hearing make the following orders:

(a) That the whole or part of some specified proceedings shall be held with the public excluded;

(b) Prohibiting or restricting the publication or communication of any information supplied to it in the course of the hearing.

Where it is satisfied that such orders are necessary:

(i) to avoid serious offence to tikanga Maori or to avoid the disclosure of the location of waahi tapu or waahi taonga; or

(ii) to avoid the disclosure of a trade secret or unreasonable prejudice to the commercial position of the person who supplied the information or is the subject of the information; and

(iii) the importance of avoiding such offence, disclosure or prejudice outweighs the public interest in making that information available.

Written record

15. The Board will have the proceedings at the hearing recorded, and the recording transcribed. This is primarily for the Board’s own deliberations, but the transcript will also be available to submitters and the public subject to any orders made under procedure 14 above.

Section 42A report

The Board of Inquiry into the Proposed New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2008 commissioned this Section 42A report.  

This report has been prepared for the Board of Inquiry on the Proposed New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2008 (Proposed NZCPS). The Board commissioned the report under section 42A of the Resource Management Act 1991 (the Act).

Graeme Speden and David Marshall, Senior Policy Analysts at the Department of Conservation, are responsible for its contents.  The matters on which the Board requested a report are summarised in the section headings. The specific questions raised by the Board in relation to each matter are set out at the beginning of each section.

Download the report (PDF, 550K)