Fast-track a lesson in how not to make reforms
Thursday, 22 May 2025
Richard Capie is general manager of policy and advocacy at Forest & Bird.
OPINION: As opposition to the first fast-track applications has started to hit the headlines in recent weeks, this anti-nature and undemocratic law is back in the spotlight.
Fast-track is unlike anything seen since the 1980s. It over-rides existing laws, strips away environmental protections and curtails the rights of communities to have their voices heard. It names favoured projects in law.
It raises significant red flags, not least about potential conflicts given politicians’ relationships with developers keen to use the powers the law provides. Companies and shareholders associated with 12 projects gave more than $500,000 in political donations to National, ACT and New Zealand First.
You’d think these risks would have demanded stringent levels of consultation, openness and engagement as the law was being developed. What we saw was the opposite. Ministers trying to suppress, delay and hide information.
Chris Bishop said he wouldn’t release information about potential projects because it might lead to lobbying. It’s turned out undeclared “informal” meetings with industry lobbyists were taking place. Apparently “cock-up rather than conspiracy” as the saying goes.
Hand-picked projects were put forward by Cabinet ministers for inclusion in the legislation. We had repeated denials that any list of favoured projects existed.
Forest & Bird worked tirelessly to bring to the public’s attention information about fast-tracking. Our goal? To get information to the New Zealand public that should have been there in the first place. It’s hard for people to have a say when they are kept in the dark.
To give you an idea of what we were up against:
Forest & Bird files request on March 11, 2024, seeking any lists of projects for consideration under the Fast-track Approvals Bill.
Ministry for the Environment replies on March 28, 2024, denying such information exists.
Further OIA digging in August 2024 uncovers a draft fast-track bill that Chris Bishop received from Shane Jones during the coalition negotiations. This included a (redacted) list of favoured projects. Forest & Bird calls for the environment committee to delay reporting back on the bill so any list can be made public.
November 19, 2024, the Department of Conservation releases a previously redacted page confirming at least one list of projects was in existence prior to March 11, 2024.
November 21, 2024, Forest & Bird raises concerns with the Ombudsman and on November 29, 2024, the Ombudsman’s office confirms it is investigating.
January 28, 2025, Ombudsman’s office advises that Ministry for the Environment will be writing to Forest & Bird.
The ministry’s reply on February 17, 2025, reveals that a list had existed in February 2024, and that half of these projects had made it into the final bill.
Throughout the development of fast-track, key information was kept from the public and kept from Parliament. That’s not good enough.
Some 27,000 New Zealanders submitted on the bill. It wasn’t until six months after submissions closed that the list of projects was published.
The environment select committee – charged with scrutinising the bill – didn’t get the chance to properly consider the list of 149 projects.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the insertion of the 149 projects into the bill almost fell over at the last minute on the grounds that it would benefit private entities. The Clerk of the House advised that such a change to the legislation would be out of order and the Speaker of the House had to rush to intervene.
From start to finish, the fast-track process was a mess. Instead of building a law to speed-up development which can endure, we have a law so bad that developers should run a mile from using it. Why risk wasting time and money, not to mention burning through community support, on something that isn’t going to last?
We can do better. We need to do better. For our environment. For our economy.
We should learn from this tainted fast-track law and the processes which developed it.
Bishop has launched the Government’s proposed new approach to wider resource management reform. These reforms are incredibly important for New Zealand. The last set of reforms created rules for sustainable management of natural and physical resources that lasted for more than three decades. The minister has talked about the importance of stability when it comes to our planning laws.
He’s right – enduring change and stability are needed.
But these will only be built through good law-making that is open and transparent. That allows New Zealanders’ voices to be heard and listened to.
As the architect of fast-track and the minister leading these next reforms, the ball is in Bishop’s court to do things differently.