April 17, 2024
Nervous nellies cleaned out by Fast Track Bill
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says people concerned about projects going through the Fast Track Approvals Bill should turn up at the select committee.
Community groups and environmentalist have expressed concern that many so called zombie projects like coal mines, gold mines and waer storage dams which have failed previous legal tests will be resubmitted under the new legislation.
Mr Jones says the current consenting system isn’t working.
“The country has ground to a halt in terms of big projects. They’ve succumbed to bureaucratic molasses. The statutory process has been colonised by incredibly able legal practitioners. They themselves were nervous nellies on these consent committees.. They’ve lost the ability to manage trade-offs and that now comes to the politicians – we will be managing the trade-offs,” he says.
Written submissions on the bill close on Friday, but applications for proposals to be included in the schedules of the bill don’t close until May 3.