March 07, 2024
Fast track for major projects
The coalition Government has unveiled its plan to fast tracks consents for infrastructure and major projects, including marine exploration, and mining on conservation land.
The Fast Track Approvals Bill will get its first reading this afternoon under urgency and be sent to select committee for public submissions.
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones say it’s based on changes to the Resource Management Act developed by the previous Labour government but is far more extensive in scope and far more effective.
Mr Jones says a one-stop shop regime is overdue.
“For too long New Zealanders have had to wait years, even decades, before crucial projects in their regions are approved and consented, and the benefits flow to communities. Our new fast-track regime starts to change this,” he says.
Criticism of the bill are pouring in from inside and outside Parliament.
The bill allows ministers to make decisions on which projects should get the go-ahead, by-passing councils, iwi and the Environment Court.
“Ministers are handing themselves extraordinary powers to approve projects that could include new coal mines, mining on parts of our precious conservation estate, and the destruction of the seabed,” says Green Party co-leader, James Shaw.
Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says it hands lobbyists and ministers the keys to the country without transparency.
Forest and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki says New Zealand already has the highest proportion of threatened species in the world, and the bill will put more on a fast track to extinction.”