In a case of déjà vu nightmare, the Green Party stands with 95 per cent of submitters to the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill, opposing this proposed legislation in the strongest terms.
"Yet again, Luxon's Government is squashing long standing environmental safeguards, te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations and democratic principles to benefit its wealthy mates and corporations," says the Green Party's environment spokesperson, Lan Pham.
"Today's report from the Environment Select Committee shows 95 per cent of submitters oppose the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill, which aims to make already extremely harmful legislation even worse.
"This Bill is disingenuously framed by the Government as simply addressing supermarket competition, with minor and technical amendments to the fast-track process. In reality, it would allow a government so obviously disconnected from what New Zealanders value to pick and choose what it thinks are significant national and regional benefits, and give ministers greater power over which projects are progressed: those of their rich mates and donors.
"Luxon's Government forced this Bill through a rushed select committee process so it can ram it through under urgency next week, making a further mockery of the legislative process. With 95 per cent opposition, passing this into law under urgency shows that the Government knows just how bad it is.
"The Fast-track Approvals Act is already an abysmal overreach on the Crown's obligations to te Tiriti o Waitangi, communities' democratic participation, environmental protections, and climate change obligations. The Coalition Government is eroding the principles of transparency and accountability that all New Zealanders deserve from any government.
"Luxon's Government has tried to pull the wool over people's eyes since the fast-track legislation's inception. A Green Government will put people and planet before profit and revoke consents that exploit our environment under the fast-track," says Lan Pham.
