Fast-track to Prosperity?

New Fast-track legislation is to be the 2nd phase of the National led Government's RM reform package ¹. It follows previous Fast-track processes: the COVID 19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 and the short-lived Fast-track process under the now-repealed Natural and Built Environment Act 2023. Will the latest move to provide for permanent Fast-tracking for significant infrastructure and development ensure prosperity, or usher further environmental decline?

Fast-track processes tend to raise specific concerns. Namely, that:

• the environment will suffer due to insufficient consideration;
• the process will remove rights to be heard on a project; and,
• decisions (made centrally by a Minister) will become political.