Newsable: What the Fast-track Approvals Bill could mean for decision-making
Thursday, 18 April 2024
Public submissions on the government’s proposed Fast-track Approvals Bill close on Friday.
Newsable speaks with a politics professor about what the concentration of decision making power will mean.
Listen to the interview here.****
Submissions close tomorrow on the coalition’s Fast-track Approvals Bill - a piece of legislation aimed at speeding up the decision making process over infrastructure and development projects thought to have significant benefits.
The bill would put the final decisions on certain projects in the hands of the Ministers for Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Development - currently Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown, and Shane Jones.
Click the play button above to listen to the interview or click here.
Professor of politics at Massey University, Richard Shaw, spoke to Stuff’s daily news podcast, Newsable, about what the bill will mean for decision making.
“There is an expert panel to which ministers will make submissions for [fast-track] applications.. but what it will do is concentrate final decision making authority in the hands of [the three] ministers,” he said.
“It’s a specific instance of the concentration of executive authority that will have really significant impacts - some of them will be positive impacts, but there may well be negative impacts.. we may not have the same opportunity to comment or debate or argue about [projects] as would’ve been the case under the existing set of arrangements.”
Shaw also discussed concerns over what the fast-tracking process’s priorities will be - which are economic development, which, he said, could be at the expense of the environment.
Newsable is Stuff’s daily news podcast, wrapping up what’s worth talking about in a short package every weekday morning. Make sure to like and follow us wherever you get your podcasts.