Hēmi Daly (he/him) Kāi Tahu (Kāti Makō, Kāti Irakehu)
The Government has just introduced a Bill which will make getting project consents easier. The sort of projects which might be consented range from housing, to aquaculture, to mines, and so on. You might be thinking this is a good thing—after all, these projects have the potential to boost our economy, get us houses, key resources, more yummy salmon, etc. You might be right, except for one thing: this new Bill completely destroys any democratic process or chance for meaningful expert input that we had.
How does the Bill work? Once projects become eligible for fast-track they go before an expert panel, who will apply relevant consent and permit conditions, with a maximum of 6 months to make the decision. Private lobbyists can make submissions to these panels, but members of the public cannot. Once the expert panel has accepted the project with conditions/declined it/whatever they want to do, the Minister can go with that decision, or he can just do whatever the fuck he wants and ignore what the expert panel says.
The lobbyists who are getting the profits can have a say, but if the government wants to put a new mine by your hometown, or a new housing development over the top of your favourite walking track, or a salmon farm up the river from your family whitebaiting spot, you don't get any say in it. If you want to appeal a decision to the courts, the Government can ignore what the courts say and go ahead with it anyway. This isn't just about Māori or greenies hating on the Government. This Bill has the potential to affect literally anyone who interacts with their environment. This is a massive erosion of democracy, and you won't notice it until suddenly you do, and there's nothing you can do about it.
If you don't like what this Government does over the next three years, sure, you can vote them out. But remember, a lot of these decisions have permanent consequences. Consenting systems and red tape might be annoying. But they also keep us and our mokopuna safe. Once they plop a mine down on top of your local dairy (obvious hyperbole but who doesn't love their local dairy), it isn't coming back. It might already be too late.
What can you do:
Make a submission on the Parliament NZ site (search ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill submissions’ in Google) by Friday 19 April.
Sign the Green Party petition (https://action.greens.org.nz/naturebeforeprofit)
Talk to family and friends about this Bill, especially those who voted for this Government. Remind them that this is an issue that will negatively affect pretty much everyone who isn’t going to directly make millions of dollars off it.
Write to your MP. Te Pāti Māori, National, Labour, Greens, ACT, it doesn’t matter, send them an email.
Write to Chris Bishop and/or Shane Jones, both of whom did the bulk of the work on this Bill.
If you hear about a protest, turn up. Show that we have numbers.
When this inevitably gets shunted through Parliament, don’t forget about this. Keep an eye out for the bs and don’t let go.
Kia kaha tātau.
Hēmi Daly (he/him) Kāi Tahu (Kāti Makō, Kāti Irakehu)