Chris Bishop finds support for supercharging growth – but he was cherry-picking when it came to Gary Taylor’s endorsement
It’s a pity Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop is busy with portfolio duties. He has demonstrated he is a dab hand at cherry picking, a skill that will soon be in demand in Central Otago where more than 150 orchards will require more than 5000 staff at the peak of the harvest season – from December to January – for cherry picking or packhouse opportunities.
Bishop popped up yesterday to show he is raring to go with the one-stop-shop Fast-track Approvals Bill, and the 149 projects listed in the Bill. He declared:
“The Fast-track Approvals Bill will help cut through the obstruction-economy, with the 149 projects announced on Sunday demonstrating our commitment to supercharge growth. Commentary from across New Zealand this week has shown just how important this Bill is for our country’s future.”
The 149 projects chosen by Cabinet to be listed in the Bill will be listed in Schedule 2 of the Bill once the Bill is reported back from the Environment Committee in mid-October.
Once the Bill has been passed, the promoters of those projects will be able to apply to the Environmental Protection Authority to have an expert panel assess the project and apply relevant conditions.
Bishop promised:
“New Zealanders can expect economic growth to be at the heart of what this government does. Fast-track is just one part – albeit an important part – of our drive to grow the economy for all Kiwis.”
His press statement was one of just two posted on the government’s official website in the past 24 hours. The other tells us Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters this week is bound for Thailand and Indonesia.
He will visit Thailand to meet with his Foreign Minister counterpart to advance discussions on lifting the Thai-New Zealand bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026.
He will then head for Jakarta to attend the inauguration of Indonesia’s next President, Prabowo Subianto.
“New Zealand is committed to our Comprehensive Partnership with Indonesia, and our shared ties as democracies in the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr Peters says.
“It is important we show our strong support for the transition of power in the world’s third largest democracy.”
Peters will also express New Zealand’s appreciation for Indonesia’s assistance in securing the recent release of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, who was held hostage in Papua, Indonesia.
“The Fast-track Approvals Bill will help cut through the obstruction-economy, with the 149 projects announced on Sunday demonstrating our commitment to supercharge growth. Commentary from across New Zealand this week has shown just how important this Bill is for our country’s future.”
The 149 projects chosen by Cabinet to be listed in the Bill will be listed in Schedule 2 of the Bill once the Bill is reported back from the Environment Committee in mid-October.
Once the Bill has been passed, the promoters of those projects will be able to apply to the Environmental Protection Authority to have an expert panel assess the project and apply relevant conditions.
Bishop promised:
“New Zealanders can expect economic growth to be at the heart of what this government does. Fast-track is just one part – albeit an important part – of our drive to grow the economy for all Kiwis.”
His press statement was one of just two posted on the government’s official website in the past 24 hours. The other tells us Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters this week is bound for Thailand and Indonesia.
He will visit Thailand to meet with his Foreign Minister counterpart to advance discussions on lifting the Thai-New Zealand bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026.
He will then head for Jakarta to attend the inauguration of Indonesia’s next President, Prabowo Subianto.
“New Zealand is committed to our Comprehensive Partnership with Indonesia, and our shared ties as democracies in the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr Peters says.
“It is important we show our strong support for the transition of power in the world’s third largest democracy.”
Peters will also express New Zealand’s appreciation for Indonesia’s assistance in securing the recent release of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, who was held hostage in Papua, Indonesia.
Latest from the Beehive
15 October 2024
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is travelling this week to Bangkok for talks with his Thai counterpart, and to Jakarta to attend the inauguration of Indonesia’s next President, Prabowo Subianto.
14 October 2024
The one-stop-shop Fast-track Approvals Bill, and the 149 projects listed in the Bill, will help rebuild our struggling economy and kick-start economic growth across the country.
In his statement, Chris Bishop said New Zealand has battled “anaemic levels of economic growth” since 2022.
“If we want Kiwi kids to stop moving overseas, better public services, and a lower cost of living: economic growth is the only answer.
“Our status as a first-world country isn’t guaranteed, and we should never take it for granted. If we want to build a brighter future for New Zealand, we must stop saying no to growth-enhancing projects.
“For too long, our planning system’s default position has been ’no’. You want to build a housing development? No. You want to build a road? No. You want to build a wind farm? No.
“We must start saying yes. It is critical to New Zealand’s future.”
Bishop referenced commentators who shared his gung-ho attitude:
- Forsyth Barr said that the Fast-track Approvals Bill ‘has the potential to give a much needed injection of energy into the downbeat NZ economy.
- Katherine Rich, Chief Executive of BusinessNZ said that ‘these projects listed as part of the Fast-track Bill will stimulate job creation and economic activity at a time when we need it most.’
- James Smith from the National Road Carriers Association said that the projects announced were ‘balanced and achievable’, with ‘a strong emphasis on road and rail developments that will enable productivity to get the country moving again’.
- Bridget Abernethy from the Electricity Retailers Association has said that the fast-tracking of renewable projects will ‘…help provide confidence to build and deliver affordable clean electricity for our low-emissions future.’
- Alan McDonald from the Employers and Manufacturers Association said that ‘given the recent issues caused by higher energy prices and the demands on generation capacity to further electrify the economy, these new fast-tracked projects have increasing significance’
- Nick Leggett from Infrastructure NZ said that the list of projects was ‘balanced’, and that ‘it really speaks to the need this country has to get its act together and build some infrastructure’.
But we did check when we learned:
“Even Gary Taylor, Chairman and Executive Director of the Environmental Defence Society, has conceded that ‘while I come from an environmental perspective, I am also a Kiwi interested in economic welfare of our nation, and a lot of the infrastructure projects look good to go to me, subject to environmental assessment… a lot of the renewable projects, a lot of the housing projects, although there are obviously important questions about impacts from them… a lot of them are all good to go…’
Just as we suspected, we found there had been some cherry-picking.
Taylor had gone on to say – in an interview on RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme – that “there are obviously important questions about impact” from the renewable and housing projects he had mentioned. Questions such as location, for example.
He also drew attention to projects which were “areas of concern”, including an aquaculture project off Stewart Island which will have an impact on the yellow eyed penguin, a bird “which is in strife and heading for extinction if we are not careful”.
Taylor expressed his concerns, too, about the Waimate waste-to-energy plant, about several coal mines, and about “the so-called zombie projects” that already have been through an approval process and been declined but “have come back for another try”.
And he said there were two key concerns about the overall legislation.
First, environmental criteria have been deprioritised (“the select committee really needs to fix that”). Taylor wants a proper balance between development and environmental objectives incorporated in the legislation.
Second is the matter of legal standing. Communities and environmental groups should be able to have a say and be listened to.
The government needs to fix the over-arching legislative framework “to get a fair and workable process”, Taylor said.
If Bishop wants a further appreciation of the limits to Taylor’s support, he should read an article published by Newsroom headed The fast-track bill: the good, the bad and the clumsy.
This emphasises:
Without these three major changes to the fast-track legislation, projects will be subject to legal challenges and risk losing social licence.
The article identifies three main reasons for criticising the bill as bad law:
- It bypasses environmental and climate considerations
- It prevents public comment
- It lacks strategic direction
Fast-track legislation has some utility in streamlining consenting, especially for projects that serve the public interest in an economic and environmental sense. Existing fast-track legislation has proven that it can work.
But if the Fast-Track Approvals Bill is to have any credibility it needs to be amended so that environmental and climate matters are appropriately considered and weighted, and to provide for public participation. And pending resource management reform needs to adopt strategic spatial planning to chart a clear way forward.
Without these changes, any projects proceeding through the process will be subject to legal challenges and risk losing social licence – even the good ones. Left unchanged, the bill should not proceed.
The authors are Gary Taylor and Shay Schlaepfer, the Environmental Defence Society’s Chief Operating Officer.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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