The Fast-track Approvals Bill
On 7 March 2024 the Government introduced a new Bill to Parliament (under urgency) called the Fast-track Approvals Bill.
The Fast-track Approvals Bill is an omnibus bill. It proposes to establish a permanent fast track approvals regime for a range of infrastructure, housing and development projects that are considered to have significant regional or national benefits. Read more here.
Forest & Bird believes this new bill is anti-nature, anti-democracy, and will leave a mess for future governments to clean up.
The Bill will override the Conservation Act, Reserves Act, and Wildlife Act, as well as the RMA and law governing the Exclusive Economic Zone. It would also allow Ministers to refer developments – ranging from aquaculture, dams and mining as well as roading and housing – to an expert panel which only has the ability to make recommendations to the Minister. Ministers have the power to greenlight projects and ignore the panel as they see fit.
We are calling on all Kiwis to make a submission against the bill to protect Aotearoa New Zealand's unique wildlife and wild places.
Actions you can take now
Make a submission on the draft Bill
The draft Fast-track Approvals Bill is currently open for public feedback. Click on the link below to make a quick submission.
Write a letter to your local MP
It's important that local MPs, especially those that are part of the Coalition Government, know that their constituents oppose this Bill. The best way of doing that right now is writing to them directly. To make things easy, we've created a template letter you can use to write them. You can download it using the link below.