Episode description
In this week's Focus on Politics, Political Reporter Anneke Smith explores the government's fast-track legislation and the responses to it.
"Inclusion of ministerial override is an overreach and dangerous" - Helmut Modlik
A law giving ministers sweeping powers to greenlight infrastructure projects has attracted a wave of criticism and responses at select committee.
With ministers beginning to soften their language, the bill could yet see changes before progressing through Parliament.
The government's Fast Track Approvals legislation is a big part of the coalition's "get things done" agenda, aiming to short-cut the consenting process for big projects like mines, roads and wind farms.
It is based on similar legislation introduced in 2020 to stimulate the economy at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead of giving an independent panel the final signoff however, it gives the Infrastructure, Transport and Resources ministers - in this case National's Chris Bishop and Simeon Brown, and NZ First's Shane Jones - sweeping powers to select and greenlight those big projects.
It could certainly speed up needed infrastructure consenting, but critics have raised concerns about how the environment might fare. The topic has even caught the attention of the UK government due to concerns it could violate free trade agreements.
The Environment Committee has received about 27,000 submissions on the bill. With so many wanting to be heard in person, the committee had to set up a ballot system.
RNZ data and long-form journalist Farah Hancock has extensively covered political donations, and says her interest in the bill was piqued by the potential for corruption. She says environmental NGOs are aghast the law could allow projects otherwise prohibited under the Resource Management Act or rejected in the courts, and gives limited opportunity for public input into individual projects. The projects to be included in the legislation also remain secret.
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton - a former National Party Cabinet minister - has voiced concerns about the concentration of powers with those three ministers, and Auditor-General John Ryan has sounded the alarm over how potential conflicts of interest are managed. Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has warned unchecked executive powers could put New Zealand on a "slippery slope". …