The legal situation facing the Rena resource consent application was summed up in no uncertain terms in Matt Casey QC's closing remarks on Thursday.

The Rena owners and insurers are seeking consent under the Resource Management Act to leave the remainder of the wreck on the Astrolabe/Otaiti reef.

Legally, the Rena owners could have abandoned the wreck at a much earlier stage. Photo: File.

However, opposition comes from various individuals and groups, with some seeking the complete removal of the wreck, while others have called for a number of conditions to be imposed on the condition the wreck is left in or future monitoring.

The panel has to grant the consent, says Matt.

'Without consent, there will be no conditions, volunteered or otherwise,” he says. 'This is simply a statement of fact, not a threat.

'Whatever the fate of the wreck, if consent was to be declined, the contaminants already in the environment would remain without monitoring or contingencies, and there would be none of the proposed plans or mitigation.”

The Rena consent hearing is a reverse of the normal order where consent is sought at the end of the project of preparing the wreck for its consented state rather than at the beginning, says Matt.

It is a project developed and undertaken with input from Maori and active recognition of their relationship with the Reef, their kaitiaki role and their mana. There has also been extensive engagement with other stakeholders, including council, communities and the Crown.

Matt insists the result is that other than on cultural grounds, there have been no serious arguments advanced that consent should be refused.

Owners and insurers, Daina Shipping and The Swedish Club, say the Resource Management Act doesn't include contaminants that have already been discharged because they are not part of the ship for which consent is sought.

'As contaminants, they are no longer confined or under control. They were discharged to, and have dispersed in, the environment as a result of the grounding and its aftermath.”

They form part of the environment against which future effects should be assessed. It is only in respect of contaminants, mainly TBT and copper that remain or are assumed to be confined within the wreckage, that consent is sought.