Kia ora John,

Thousands of people have taken to the streets and voiced their strong opposition to National’s destructive and undemocratic Fast-Track Approvals Bill.

What's wrong with this Bill?

• It works against nature: the Bill is designed to override our existing environmental protection laws in favour of short-term profit.

• Three ministers (Shane Jones, Chris Bishop and Simeon Brown) get the final say and can approve projects that destroy native animals and their homes, such as coal mining in kiwi habitat. Once these are gone, we cannot get them back.

• It undermines our democracy. Communities, including iwi and hapū, will not have input into developments that will affect them.

• The Bill could revive projects that have previously been declined for being too destructive or risky to the environment.

• A list of projects is being secretly prepared for insertion into the Bill at the last minute, despite calls to release this list so the public can have their say. 

National is choosing to recklessly prioritise environmentally damaging projects, regardless of their long-term impacts on nature and communities. 

This is about choices. The Government can listen to the thousands of people who marched or made submissions against this Bill, or it can continue to push through a piece of legislation that will impact communities and damage nature for generations to come.

In Government, Labour proved we can look after our environment, while progressing with projects that benefit our communities.

We sped up approvals and reduced the cost of consenting for projects like school buildings, housing, and clean energy initiatives. These projects were approved by independent panels and worked with nature, rather than against it.

The National Government has also stripped away $3 billion of funding for climate change projects and is rapidly undoing progress to reduce our emissions. 

These reckless choices will take us backwards, leaving our kids and grandkids to pick up the tab.

Add your voice: Email Christopher Luxon and key ministers and tell them this legislation needs to be stopped in its tracks.

Forward this email to friends and family: together, we can stop the Fast-Track Approvals Bill.

Rachel Brooking,
Environment Spokesperson
Labour.org.nz