On 11 June 2026, the panel convener appointed the expert panel. The panel consists of:
Trevor Robinson (chair)
Trevor is a barrister, now practising from a base in Havelock North after many years (prior to 2022) living and working in Wellington. Trevor has over 30 years' experience in environmental law. Prior to becoming a barrister in 2004, he was a partner in the Wellington office of Buddle Findlay.
Having worked for many years as an advocate specialising in acting as lead legal counsel on large complex consenting projects, Trevor has spent most of the last 10 years as a hearing commissioner on regional and district plans, and on consent applications. This has included acting as commissioner and then chair on a number of sections of the Proposed Queenstown Lakes District Plan, as commissioner on Proposed Waikato Plan Change 1 (Healthy Rivers), and as chair on the Proposed Porirua and Wellington District Plans. He has also acted as chair of fast-track hearing panels under both the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 and the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024.
Trevor is a member of the Resource Management Law Association, the New Zealand Geothermal Association and the New Zealand Law Society’s Environmental Law Committee.
David McMahon
David is an experienced Resource Management Act practitioner.
He is a Certified Independent Commissioner. He has 30 years’ experience in urban and environmental planning, representing both public and private interests. He has extensive experience in decision-making. He sat on four EPA Boards of Inquiry from 2010 to 2014 and was the chair of two marine consent applications in 2014 and 2018.
In the last 15 years, David has taken on a wide range of relevant independent commissioner roles. Assignments have included determining regional plans, district plans, notices of requirement and resource consent applications. His specialty is in planning process, including environmental effects assessment, policy analysis and statutory interpretation.
Ray O'Callaghan
Ray is a Chartered Professional Engineer with over 35 years’ experience as a consultant engineer. He has been involved with a broad range of projects including land development, three waters, earthworks, coastal engineering, irrigation, and landfills and has provided expertise for the RMA approval aspects of these projects. Ray is a certified independent RMA Commissioner, a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand and a Life Member of ACENZ.
Ray has led several large projects through their RMA approvals process for both private and local authority clients, including plan changes and has been an expert witness for numerous planning Hearings and several Environment Court hearings. Ray has also been an expert witness for several legal cases before the District and High Court, many of which have been settled at mediation. As a certified Independent RMA Commissioner, Ray has sat on a number of panels involving a range of proposed activities, usually where engineering technical matters have been complex. These have included NOR applications, large scale irrigation, discharge and/or coastal activities and complex land development proposals.
Juliane Chetham
Juliane has a background in Geography and Environmental Science with over 20 years of experience in resource management planning and policy, specialising in Treaty of Waitangi and Kaupapa Māori matters. Juliane has held roles across a range of industry, government and iwi/hapū authorities. Juliane is an accredited Hearings Commissioner and has served on a variety of resource consent, plan change, Notice of Requirement, Fast Track (Covid 19 Recovery Act) hearings and Waitangi Tribunal proceedings throughout the motu.
Register of interests
The register records all relevant panel members' interests. It is updated when necessary throughout the consenting process.