Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): In answer to the first part of the question, no. Councils are required to publicly notify their plan changes that give effect to these policies by August 2022. This will kick off the public process in Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act involving public submissions and hearings. Decisions on these plan changes must be made within two years of the public notification—that is, if the National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPSUD) plan changes are publicly notified by August 2022, they must be decided on by August 2024. Shorter deadlines risk lengthy legal challenges to the plan changes and could undermine delivering the intensification outcomes sought, although I would like to point out to the member that we are already seeing the impact of the NPSUD on planning decisions. Hearing panels, the Environment Court, and other decision makers already need to take it into account, and there is evidence they are using it to enable more houses to be built. I would also point the member to the fact that while we enact this long-term substantial change that is needed in our country, we do have short-term tools available such as the COVID fast-track tool.