The New Zealand government wants to put in place a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects, proposing the Fast-track Approvals Bill, which would give three ministers wide new powers over major projects and the environment. Heliocene founder, Jennifer Wilkins, submitted to the select committee on 16 April 2024, copied below.
My name is Jennifer Wilkins. I am a researcher and advisor on 21st century heterodox economics and post growth business. I have previously worked in the infrastructure sector, developing the social, cultural and environmental attributes in proposals for major projects for constructor-designer alliances to governments, and also in a trans-Tasman peak infrastructure body, guiding industry sustainability and impact.
I strongly oppose the Fast Track Approvals Bill. While it proposes to establish a permanent fast-track approvals regime for various infrastructure, housing and development projects, it is a blunt instrument for cutting red tape. This Bill, if enacted, could have severe consequences for New Zealand’s environment, democracy, prosperity and international standing.
This Bill, particularly when considered alongside Government-issued invitations to private interests to submit proposals for extractive and development ventures, including some previously opposed through due process, represents a significant departure from New Zealand’s previous fast track legislation. Moreover, it neglects our historical, painstakingly negotiated societal commitments to one another and our environment according to our values of stewardship, relationships, fairness, democracy, cultural respect and resilience. This is how we know ourselves and it is how we are seen on the global stage. In its potential to undermine these values and our identity, this Bill is un-Aotearoan.
I highlight several key reasons why the Fast Track Approvals Bill should be rejected.
This particular Bill perpetuates a growth-for-growth’s-sake economic model at the expense of resource depletion and exacerbating the ecological and climate crises. New Zealand ecosystems are already under immense pressure with biodiversity loss, water pollution and climate change. The Bill’s fast-track approval process would give three inexpert individuals in ministerial roles unilateral powers to bypass essential environmental safeguards and approve exploitation of natural resources to enrich business owners. This would diminish New Zealand’s multi-capital wealth and siphon financial benefits to the few, reducing the commons and shared prosperity.
Furthermore, New Zealand must fulfil its environmental obligations under diverse international agreements, from the Paris Agreement to fair trade agreements with various global partners, which the Fast Track Approvals Bill may breach.
In concentrating power in the hands of development Ministers and using a non-consultative process, this Bill undermines the most basic principles of civic engagement. It is a matter of enlightened democracy that communities are informed and have their voices heard in decision-making processes that affect them. The Bill’s disregard for Te Tiriti o Waitangi and indigenous rights, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, is also deeply concerning as it perpetuates marginalisation and historical injustices.
This Bill will greenlight projects that lack social license. It is not in the interests of local, trusted businesses that have diligently cultivated social license to become associated with these projects. This will expose New Zealand to foreign actors who would approach development with a limited understanding of local complexities and employ extractive business models. Rushed approvals also introduce the risk of quality compromises, cost overruns and hazards to public safety.
It is imperative that New Zealand adopts a new understanding of prosperity in the 21st century, prioritising sustainability, equality and social justice. Infrastructure is the backbone of provisioning and resilience and must not be hijacked for private gains. Deliberative democracy and a transition towards a post-growth economic paradigm that meets planetary boundaries and provides wellbeing to current and future generations are now crucial considerations for all policymaking and legislation.
Should this Bill proceed, at the very least, the Minister of the Environment and the Minister for Climate Change, and a diverse range of stakeholders and perspectives, including voices representing nature and the future, should constitute the decision-making group. Public notification and consultation periods are needed to ensure adequate scrutiny and input from affected communities.
I urge the government to withdraw this harmful Fast Track Approvals Bill. The best way forward in the near term is to resume previously undertaken democratic and evidence-based processes for reforming the Resource Management Act.
Image by Nick Da Fonseca on Unsplash
Heliocene 