Fast Track Bill On Slighly Slower Track

Some push backs still needed.

Governments have a habit of releasing decisions on a weekend when they don’t want a lot of media attention drawn to them, but yesterday Resource Minister Chris Bishop and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced proposed changes to the grossly undemocratic Fast Track Approvals Bill which will mean that they and Simeon Brown will no longer have the final say on green-lighting infrastructure projects.

It is now proposed that projects be referred to an expert panel by the Minister for Infrastructure (Chris Bishop) alone, who will be required to consult the Minister for the Environment and other relevant portfolio ministers as part of the process.

The panel would include members who have expertise in environmental matters, an iwi authority representative only when required by Treaty settlements, plus Māori development and te ao Māori expertise in place of mātauranga Māori.

While that all sounds good the panel would have to give more weight to economic benefits of projects than environmental concerns so where does that leave the independence of the purposed panel of experts ?

Whomever is chosen to serve on that panel will certainly have their work cut out because 384 projects applied to be listed on the Bill who would now be required to include information on previous decisions by approving authorities, including court decisions, in their applications.

So while it’s a bit of a win for the more that 20,000 of us who marched down Auckland’s Queen Street and the many thousands more who protested in other centres, there remain significant concerns.

If the panel is given the power to overturn a decision on a project previously made against it by a previous court ruling, then that is still an autocratic process which undermines our long established judicial system, and the bias towards financial gain over environmental protection is a worry.

One plus to take out of this weekend’s announcement however, is that protests, demonstrations and making submissions to select committees can all be effective in protecting our democracy, so we need to keep the pressure on. Because this is just the first skirmish in what is going to be a long battle to contain greed and to develop, as we must, with wisdom that seeks to preserve as much of our environment as possible for future generations.

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