Northland’s Conservation Board chair concerned about Govt’s fast-track consents bill

Excavators at work near Waterfall Corner in the Brynderwyn Hills as part of fast-tracked roading resilience work being undertaken.

The country’s transport minister says Fast Track Approvals legislation will enable New Zealand to cut through not only “the red tape” associated with infrastructure projects but also “the green tape”.

However, a leading figure in Northland conservation says the legislation is a “beast that needs to be slowed down”.

Transport minister Simeon Brown remarked on the issue to media during a recent tour of a roading resilience project being done on the Brynderwyn Hills section of State Highway 1.

The project has been marked by a controversial 10-week full road closure as a fast-track strategy to future-proof it from further extreme weather events. It’s the sort of infrastructure project the Government wants to accelerate with its Fast Track Approvals Bill, launched as one of its most significant 100-day milestones and currently before parliament.

Submissions on the bill close this Friday.

Nyree (Nyze) Manuel, the chair of Northland’s Conservation Board Te Rūnanga Papa Atawhai O Te Tai Tokerau, says she’s worried about what the proposed legislation could mean for the environment and future generations.

Manuel accepted the Government’s explanation that the Brynderwyns project was being fast-tracked for safety reasons but said it highlighted the pace at which the proposed legislation could operate.

It was a “beast” that needed to be slowed down, she said.

“If it’s [the Brynderwyns project] a smidge of what’s to come under the Fast Track Bill, then I’m very worried.”

The proposed legislation was aimed at reducing costs and timeframes to enable efficient implementation of large-scale projects. If passed, three joint ministers (Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) could approve the fast-tracking of projects deemed to have significant regional or national benefits.

The Minister of Conservation would be included at both the referral and final decision stage if a wildlife approval was needed and would be the main decision-maker for conservation concessions.

The Minister Responsible for the Crown Mineral Act would be one of the joint ministers for relevant decisions.

Nyree (Nyze) Manuel, chair of Northland’s Conservation Board Te Rūnanga Papa Atawhai O Te Tai Tokerau. Photo / File

Manuel was concerned the final approval decision lay only with that small group of ministers and that the public’s voice, including that of iwi, would be lost.

She feared projects wouldn’t necessarily be rigorously assessed as to the environmental and cumulative impacts. She pointed to Trans Tasman Resources’ (TTR) announcement just before the Easter break that it was pulling out of the Environmental Protection Authority’s reconsideration of its application to mine 50 million tonnes of seabed every year for 30 years off the coast of Taranaki.

It was thought TTR would instead now try to take advantage of the Government’s fast-track consenting process.

“Yet again Te Taio (nature) takes a back seat while economic interests and development take the front seat.

“And at what cost to the future for our environment, our children, and our mokopuna?”

The bill seemed to null and void aspects of other legislation it crossed - the Conservation Act, Wildlife Act, Crown Minerals Act, and Reserves Act, Manuel said. She questioned whether aspects of it were even lawful.

The Northland Board had forwarded submissions on the bill, including its concerns about how the proposed legislation overlaid the Conservation Act, which was the basis of its statutory obligations.

One of the board’s duties was to uphold section four of the Conservation Act - “to ensure the Act was interpreted and administered as to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”.

Manuel said Northland’s Ngāpuhi iwi - the nation’s largest - was vulnerable under the proposed legislation because it was yet to settle a land claim. With the Government declaring only a third of conservation land would be protected, it stood to reason that would largely be lands already secured in other iwis’ settlements.

It was more likely the Government would start any development on lands in the Ngāpuhi region, which also meant Ngāpuhi was under increased pressure to reach a settlement.

She encouraged others with concerns about the bill to also make submissions.

Manuel said the Government pointed to the housing crisis and the recession as reasons to fast-track projects and blamed its predecessor for issues that had slowed the development of infrastructure down. Yet the recession was global.

Northland’s board had not been consulted over the Brynderwyns Project, Manuel said.

However that wasn’t unusual as its normal role in such projects was an advisory one and to ensure the Conservation Management Strategy was followed by the Department of Conservation.

Boards would normally only intervene if an issue was brought to their attention by a member of the public. So far there’d been no public issue raised about the Brynderwyns project.

Manuel said conservation board heads hadn’t yet had a chance to meet together as a group with the new Minister (Tama Potaka) since the election last year and were still awaiting a “letter of expectation” from him as to the specific roles he envisioned for boards.

The transport minister was contacted for further comment on his remark about cutting through the “green tape” but didn’t respond.