Fast-track project list leaves us with a puzzle – just one more would have given us a round 150
An announcement from Chris Bishop and Shane Jones, along with the public reactions to it, have given the news media plenty to write and talk about over the past 24 hours or so.
The announcement was the 149 projects that will be included in the Government’s one-stop-shop Fast Track Approvals Bill.
They will be listed in Schedule 2 of the Bill once it is reported back from the Environment Committee in mid-October. After the Bill has been passed into law, applications can be made to the Environmental Protection Authority to have an expert panel assess a project and apply relevant conditions.
The Government is also recommending to the Environment Committee that expert panels are enabled to decline approval for projects.
The projects have been selected through “a thorough and robust process” which included an open application process run by Ministry for the Environment, analysis by officials, an independent assessment and recommendations process by an independent Advisory Group, and final decisions by Cabinet.
This thorough and robust process has curiously resulted in the final list falling one short of 150.
The 149 that have passed muster (we are told) will help rebuild the economy and fix our housing crisis, improve energy security, and address our infrastructure deficit.
Inevitably this is being challenged by critics who fret about the environmental implications and about the propriety of getting projects up and going without regard for the concerns of objectors.
Thus RNZ first reported the announcement –
The Government is also recommending to the Environment Committee that expert panels are enabled to decline approval for projects.
The projects have been selected through “a thorough and robust process” which included an open application process run by Ministry for the Environment, analysis by officials, an independent assessment and recommendations process by an independent Advisory Group, and final decisions by Cabinet.
This thorough and robust process has curiously resulted in the final list falling one short of 150.
The 149 that have passed muster (we are told) will help rebuild the economy and fix our housing crisis, improve energy security, and address our infrastructure deficit.
Inevitably this is being challenged by critics who fret about the environmental implications and about the propriety of getting projects up and going without regard for the concerns of objectors.
Thus RNZ first reported the announcement –
Government unveils 149 projects selected by Fast-track Approvals Bill
The projects will help the economy, housing crisis and infrastructure deficits, Minister for Infrastructure Chris Bishop says.
And then it brought us news of what the objectors have to say –
Critics express alarm at list of fast-track projects
Critics point to a lack of environmental protections while the government calls the 149 projects a key part of rebuilding the economy
Newsroom focused on what it called the “zombie” projects that have been brought back to life –
Fast-track list: ‘zombie projects’ among the first 149 in line
An amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill will add 149 projects to a priority list without any of them seeing public scrutiny.
The New Zealand Herald paid attention to one especially controversial scheme –
Ruataniwha revival? Initiative borne from doomed dam project put on Govt’s fast-track bill
An initiative to improve Hawke’s Bay’s water security borne from the controversial Ruataniwha Dam project has been included in the…
Forest and Bird wants the bill to be given more time before a select committee –
Fast-track list reveal is a dark day for democracy
Parliament’s Environment Committee must delay reporting back on the Fast-track Approvals Bill until it has time to properly consider the…
Greenpeace – of course – had a general grouch –
The Fast Track Approvals Bill: what’s the problem? UPDATED
On the 7th of March, the Government introduced a new bill to fast-track consents for development projects, which would allow corporations to..
Beehive press secretaries milked the news for as much as their bosses could get out of it.
Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says projects referred for Fast-Track approval will help supercharge the Māori economy and realise the huge potential of Iwi and Māori assets.
Energy Minister Simeon Brown drew attention to the Fast-track Approvals Bill listing 22 renewable electricity projects with a combined capacity of 3 Gigawatts, which will help secure a clean, reliable and affordable supply of electricity across New Zealand.
And as Minister of Transport he said the government has enabled fast-track consenting for 29 “critical” road, rail, and port projects across New Zealand.
Latest from the Beehive
7 October 2024
This week’s inaugural Ethnic Xchange Symposium will explore the role that ethnic communities and businesses can play in rebuilding New Zealand’s economy, Ethnic Communities Minister Melissa Lee says.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters are renewing New Zealand’s calls for restraint and de-escalation, on the first anniversary of the 7 October terrorist attacks on Israel.
6 October 2024
Projects referred for Fast-Track approval will help supercharge the Māori economy and realise the huge potential of Iwi and Māori assets, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says.
The Fast-track Approvals Bill will list 22 renewable electricity projects with a combined capacity of 3 Gigawatts, which will help secure a clean, reliable and affordable supply of electricity across New Zealand.
The Government has enabled fast-track consenting for 29 critical road, rail, and port projects across New Zealand to deliver these priority projects faster and boost economic growth.
The 149 projects released today for inclusion in the Government’s one-stop-shop Fast Track Approvals Bill will help rebuild the economy and fix our housing crisis, improve energy security, and address our infrastructure deficit.
5 October 2024
A new multi-purpose recreation centre will provide a valuable wellbeing hub for residents and visitors to Ruakākā in Northland, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says.
The statement from Chris Bishop and Shane Jones didn’t explain why they could not find just one more project to give the government 150 projects for inclusion in the Fast Track Approvals Bill.
But Bishop said the independent Advisory Group recommended to Ministers a total of 342 projects for inclusion in the Bill.
“Cabinet chose to include only 149 of them to better reflect the capacity from expert panels to assess and consent these projects,” Mr Bishop says.
These have been selected have significant regional or national benefits, they said.
The expert panels that will play a key role in deciding the fate of those projects will include members with technical expertise relevant to a project, expertise in environmental matters (and where relevant, conservation), and – let’s not overlook this one – the Treaty of Waitangi. They will function much the same way as the COVID-19 Fast Track legislation established by the previous government.
Shane Jones said:
“The Fast Track Approvals Bill is a key part of the government’s plan to rebuild our economy and cut through the red and green tape that has made it more and more difficult to build the projects New Zealand needs.
“For example, the 44 listed housing developments will enable up to 55,000 new homes to be consented in New Zealand’s major growth centres and across our regions, playing a significant part in addressing New Zealand’s housing crisis.”
Then he brought the potent influence of iwi leaders into considerations:
“The seven aquaculture and farming projects will strengthen partnerships with iwi to boost Māori development and are expected to have an output of up to 143,000 tonnes per annum.”
Forty-three infrastructure projects will help to address the country’s infrastructure deficit, resulting in at least 180km of new road, rail and public transport routes.
Fast-tracking these projects will help deliver a new generation of Roads of National and Regional Significance (RoNS and RoRS).
The 22 renewable electricity projects will help electrify the New Zealand economy, boost energy security and help New Zealand address its climate change goals.
“New Zealand has abundant renewable energy resources but the planning system puts barrier after barrier in the way of taking advantage of them. Collectively the projects will contribute an additional 3 gigawatts of generation capacity, if all consented. By comparison, Auckland’s historic peak demand is about 2 gigawatts,” Jones said.
The 11 mining projects will make a major contribution to the Government’s resource objective of doubling the value of our mineral exports to $2 billion by 2035, extracting coal, gold, iron sands and mineral sands.
“They will deliver measurable benefits to regional and national GDP, highly-skilled and highly-paid jobs in the regions, and other associated benefits like the retention of regional infrastructure.”
Bishop emphasised that the makeup of the final list isn’t a reflection of the quality of projects not listed, nor is it a sign that any future application to the Fast-track process for these projects would be unsuccessful.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
No comments:
Post a Comment