Captain of the Rena cargo ship has pleaded guilty to all charges. He faces a maxium fine of $300,00 and/or two years in jail.

Local bodies will have to process notified resource consents within six months under National Party policy released today.

A technical advisory group led by barrister Alan Dormer will report back to government by March 2012 on detailed proposals.

The government's trumpeting of big efficiency gains in resource consent processing comes at a time when applications have fallen by almost a third.

Act leader Don Brash has taken a swipe at the media and the New Zealand education system for trivialising political debate.