Fast-track Approvals Bill: Does it hand too much power to three Cabinet ministers? – Jeffrey McNeill [Video]

THREE KEY FACTS:

Jeffrey McNeill is an honorary research associate at the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University.

OPINION

The Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill has been widely criticised for potentially handing too much power to three Cabinet ministers and raising the risk of conflicts of interest and political interference in environmental management.

Ironically, the bill also helps demonstrate why the original Resource Management Act (RMA) was always doomed to fail – and what its replacement will have to get right.

The RMA has long been blamed for high compliance costs and red tape that delay mining, infrastructure, and housing developments, and which make farming harder and less viable. Much of which is true.

But five major reviews of the RMA over the past 33 years have found the legislation itself was fundamentally sound – it has been its implementation that was flawed.

The previous Labour Government sought to address these problems by …