The new fast-track bill has been described as 'government by amateurs', with no checks and balances. newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/30/the…

Do we have a Minister for the Environment?

None of the communication from the Beehive on the dismantling of our environmental protections features the Minister for the Environment...

#nzpol

beehive.govt.nz/release/urgent…

'Barren, toxic wasteland': Fast-track risks repeating mistakes of the past – Ngāti Toa

Unrestrained development poisoned Porirua’s streams and silted up its harbour. Now Ngāti Toa says the fast-track bill could repeat that environmental vandalism.
newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/30/bar…

The concern about fast track has well and truly spilled over from specific advocacy groups such as environmental NGOs, into the living rooms of concerned voters of all political stripes. This is about the fifth article I've seen in the last few days outlining the poor process.

Tonight's polls another reflection that anti nature anti democratic legislation isn't the Kiwi way. People want to be heard & not steam rolled when it comes to their back yards and the environment they care about (& no surprise to hear concern about fast track in IVs with public)

'In effect, they can personally consent to big developments, potentially including roading, mining or tunnelling projects which critics fear might be fast-tracked regardless of their environmental impact.'

#fasttrackwrongtrack
theconversation.com/nzs-government… via The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand

'As defeated National PM John Marshall said, when asked what went wrong in the 1972 election, “well, we underestimated Manapouri and those 260,000 signatures”.
thepress.co.nz/politics/35025…

While NZ argues over whether or not we should make globally endangered species extinct in the interest of 'economic benefits' & the oh-so articulate 'getting stuff done' touted by our Prime Minister, more thoughtful policy that might assist our prosperity & survival is underway.

Frog story.

'As defeated National PM John Marshall said, when asked what went wrong in the 1972 election, “well, we underestimated Manapouri and those 260,000 signatures”.

Luxon Government on a fast-track to trouble thepost.co.nz/politics/35025…

“I don’t know how you can be a Kiwi and not be an environmentalist. It staggers me when people aren’t, because this country has been so beautiful and we’re watching it fall apart,” Robyn Malcolm says.

theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

The worst piece of law proposed since 1979’: Reactions to the Fast-track Approvals Bill
#WarOnNature #nzpol thespinoff.co.nz/science/26-04-…

'In environmental terms, giving ministers the ultimate say on consenting is the opposite of a safeguard.

But sometimes it is more beguiling to believe in the power of your own spin than listen to wise heads and be prepared to make concessions.'
#fasttrackwrongtrack #waronnature

'Think Big and its aftermath are powerful examples of what can go wrong when a small group of politicians, who think they know best, deliberately curtail due process when it comes to making major decisions and instead take that power upon themselves.'
newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/26/gov…

One of the firms approached about the Government’s new Fast-Track consenting bill has a part-owner and director whose other company has donated $55,000 to the NZ First Party and MP Shane Jones.

#SmellsLikeCorruption #nzpol nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/qu…

'What we've been talking about mostly is the job losses, but there's equivalent operating budget loss, & that just means DOC won't have capacity to deliver on species conservation programmes,'

'So we will likely lose species out of this.' Jo Monks
rnz.co.nz/news/national/…

In today's Guardian - changes to NZ's resource consenting laws 'getting bad things done in a potentially dangerous way'.

Lack of checks and balances on executive powers, and ministers making decisions on projects that benefit their donors?? Not how serious govt shd work.

'Even projects that already have been rejected by the courts for environmental reasons could be fast-tracked... In expectation of the law’s passage, 2 deep-sea mining companies have expressed confidence that their projects will receive fast-track approval'
theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…