New fast-tracking regime is both conflicting and conflicted

Analysis: If there’s one project that most clearly illustrates the vexed arguments for and against the Government’s new fast-track consenting regime, it’s Ngāi Tahu’s proposed Hananui salmon farm, occupying about 2500 hectares of coastal space north-east of Rakiura/Stewart Island.

Its approval path has been difficult. The Southland Regional Coastal Plan is “out of date” and “out of step”, according to a Ministry for the Environment briefing last night.

Hananui has already been turned down once, when the iwi applied to an expert consenting panel under the previous government’s Covid-19 fast-track law – and that set a pretty low bar for approval.

“It is with a heavy heart the panel declines the required resource consents for the Hananui
Aquaculture Project,” said last year’s ruling. “The proposal would have enormous benefit for Ngāi Tahu whānui (and Rakiura and the wider Southland community) … however the large scale and dispersed salmon farms will result in a major step change to a receiving environment that is relatively unmodified by human activities, with very high natural character.”

But under the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill, which passed its first reading under urgency on Thursday evening, the only bar will be the agreement of Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones. And Jones has already made it very clear, very publicly, that he supports it. It will be a low bar.

Indeed, the officials reveal in their supplementary analysis report that they haven’t even had a chance to consider the impact of fast-tracking fisheries approvals , as these were a late ministerial addition to the fast-track bill.

The bill emphasises that, in fisheries decisions, the ministers can reverse any decisions by the expert panel or the Ministry for Primary Industries chief executive.

The Hananui project is expected to be included in a schedule to the bill, which will list 100-plus projects that are, essentially, pre-approved. All that is left is for an expert consenting panel to set any conditions under which they will proceed, and then the ministers’ rubber stamp.

Presenting the bill for that first reading, Bishop quoted the Infrastructure Commission: existing consenting processes cost infrastructure projects $1.29 billion every year; the time taken to
get a resource consent for key projects has nearly doubled within a recent five-year period.

Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere Justin Tipa acknowledges the inclusion of a clause in the fast-track bill to uphold Treaty settlements, on the one hand, but says it doesn’t go far enough. Iwi leadership is concerned that the bill gives ministers the ability to approve consents for a project which could be inconsistent with iwi settlements and Te Tiriti more generally.

Despite those concerns, the iwi may use the fast-track process to advance its own fish-farming project. Its leadership believes the Hananui project is an important one for building a legacy for future generations, Tipa tells Newsroom.

“At this point, we see both risk and reward in the idea of a fast-track consenting process. Any decision to move forward on the Hananui project would need to weigh up legacy benefits for our iwi, environmental and economic outcomes.”

He points out that two-thirds of the conservation estate is situated within Ngāi Tahu’s Takiwā (boundaries) so iwi members were particularly concerned about the new consenting regime’s impacts on this whenua – including through the fast-tracking of conservation concessions.

This is a particularly pointed comment. There are four or five mine proposals – Stevenson Mining’s Te Kuha coal mine near Westport, Bathurst Minerals’ Stockton and Rotowaro coal mines, OceanaGold’s proposed goldmine in the Coromandel, and Santana Mines’ Bendigo-Ophir mine – that would be on or under the conservation estate.

There are other projects that could be fast-tracked too, like approval of a conservation concession for the handover of Tūroa Ski Field in the Tongariro National Park to private investors, Pure Tūroa. Ruapehu Alpine Lifts receiver Brendon Gibson is saying little: “The DoC concession process for Pure Turoa is underway and we can’t make any comment regarding it,” he tells Newsroom. “We are obviously hopeful of a positive outcome.”

Official analysis of the bill (analysis that was itself fast-tracked by the Ministry for the Environment, and published on Thursday night) says the potential benefits to development and the impacts upon conservation are not well understood.

“Many issues in the public works legislation involve balancing competing interest between delivering public infrastructure and private property rights, which need further explanation,” it warns lawmakers.

‘Collateral damage’

Ngāi Tahu and Tainui signed the first and biggest Treaty settlements with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s predecessor, Jim Bolger. This morning, both iwi say they’re carefully reviewing the new bill and will talk to the government about their concerns.

Waikato-Tainui chair Tuku Morgan (who was an MP in the Bolger Government) welcomes the bill’s recognition of Te Ture Whaimana, a key governance mechanism in the Waikato River Settlement to protect the river.

“Waikato-Tainui wants concrete assurances the new Bill’s provisions will not impact the effectiveness of the iwi’s ability to make decisions in our rohe, particularly as it relates to improving our environment.” 

And he too highlights the balance to be struck: he hints that Tainui Group Holdings, as a major developer, may also use the fast-track process.

So he agrees there ought to be efficiencies in major infrastructure projects to lift productivity in the regions. “But the integrity of our Treaty settlements or our environment cannot be collateral damage.”