On 12 February 2026, the panel convener appointed the expert panel with a commencement date of 25 February 2026. The panel consists of:
Hon Matthew Muir KC (Chair)
The Hon. Matthew Muir KC is a retired Judge of the High Court having served between 2014 and 2025. He has an LLB(Hons) from the University of Auckland, where he jointly won the prize for best undergraduate record (1979), and an LLM from the University of Virginia in the United States (1984). He is a former partner of Holmden Horrocks & Co (1985-1987) and of Buddle Findlay (1988-1994). In 1995 he left Buddle Findlay to become a barrister sole and in 2013 was appointed Queen’s Counsel.
Although his former practice was largely at the commercial and insurance Bars, the latter included representation in major engineering failures including that of the Opuha Dam and Bayswater Marina. In his years as a High Court Judge and as a Divisional Member of the Court of Appeal he also authored a number of significant resource management related judgments. He currently practices from Mills Lane Chambers as an arbitrator and mediator and divides his time between Auckland and Sydney.
Gina Sweetman
Gina is a certified and experienced RMA hearings commissioner (Chair endorsement) with a wide range of planning, policy and management experience, having worked for over 33 years in local and central government, and private practice. She holds a Master of Planning (First Class Honours) from the University of Auckland.
She has strong knowledge of all aspects of the RMA, wider natural resources planning and Treaty settlements. She has particular strengths in regional and district policy analysis and advice, complex consents, freshwater policy and consents and Māori planning issues. She has previously sat on Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act Panels.
She is a Fellow of the New Zealand Planning Institute and a Government-appointed Development Contributions Commissioner. She is also currently appointed on a part time basis by the New Zealand Planning Institute as a Chief Advisor at the Ministry for the Environment, working on resource management reforms.
Philip Barry
Phil co-established independent economics advisors TDB Advisory in 2002 and has had over thirty years’ experience providing economic and financial advice to leading corporates in the private and public sector.
Phil is a former Director in the NZ Treasury and Adviser in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. He is a member of the International Monetary Fund’s panel of Fiscal Experts, an expert Lay Member of the High Court of NZ under the Commerce Act and a Fellow of the Law and Economics Association of New Zealand.
Roger MacGibbon
Roger is a restoration ecologist with 40 years’ experience in ecological assessments, ecological restoration, environmental management, wetland restoration, constructed wetlands for nutrient management, sediment and nutrient loss at block and catchment scales in agricultural environments and project management. He has experience in most areas of terrestrial, coastal and freshwater ecology and has particular expertise in the restoration of natural, modified and damaged sites. He has worked in every region of New Zealand and around the Pacific.
For much of his career Roger’s work has been focused especially on assessing and managing the impact of human activity on land, waterways and indigenous biodiversity, and on developing, in conjunction with landowners, iwi, industry and government agencies, new tools and practices to reduce the impact of land use on water quality and biodiversity. Roger has presented evidence at more than 20 RMA Council and Environment Court hearings and, more recently, has participated in six Fast Track Consent Applications, two as an adviser to the expert panel and the others on behalf of the consent applicant.
Tim Mulliner
Tim Mulliner is an environmental scientist and holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Otago and a Bachelor of Science from Lincoln University. He is a certified environmental practitioner (CEnvP) under the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand Inc. Tim is currently employed as Technical Director at GHD New Zealand Ltd. and has held that position since 2020.
Tim has 20 years' professional experience within the consultancy industry in which time he worked on numerous mine sites with a specific technical focus on geochemistry, hydrogeology, hydrology and mine water management.
Peter Kensington
Peter is an expert resource management practitioner with qualifications and 30 years of practice experience in landscape architecture and planning.
He is a registered member of Tuia Pito Ora, the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects and a full member of Te Kokiringa Taumata, the New Zealand Planning Institute. Originally from Te Papa-i-Oea, Palmerston North, after time in Ōtautahi, Christchurch and Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Peter has been based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland since 1999. He has worked in private practice and for local government and he is currently a director at the consultancy KPLC Limited.
Peter is a certified Independent Hearing Commissioner and he is regularly appointed as a hearing panel member for Auckland Council. Peter is also a duty commissioner for Auckland Council, with delegated authority to determine applications for resource consent. He is currently a hearing panel member for the Far North District Council making recommendations on the Proposed Far North District Plan. He was recently a panel member for the Queenstown Lakes District Council considering the proposed introduction of priority area landscape schedules into the Proposed Queenstown Lakes District Plan.
This is Peter’s third appointment as a panel member on a fast-track application following his involvement as a decision-maker on the application for Drury Quarry, Drury (under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024) and the application for Strathmill, Ōrewa (under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-Track Consenting) Act 2020).
Douglas Johnson
Doug is a specialist engineering geologist with over 40 years’ experience delivering geotechnical assessments across complex geological terrains for a range of quarry, mining, and civil infrastructure projects. His expertise covers, site investigation, ground modelling, soil and rock mechanics, slope stability, groundwater and natural hazard evaluation.
Doug, across his career, has held several industry leadership and governance roles, and he has been recognised for his technical contribution and leadership to the NZ engineering industry. He is currently a Principal Consultant and Technical Director with Tonkin + Taylor NZ Ltd.
Register of interests
The register records all relevant panel members' interests. It is updated when necessary throughout the consenting process.