Those business leaders who were calling last week for some indication of an economic plan from the Government got their answer yesterday.
In what amounted to the first substantial pointer to the future rather than the past from a Government Minister, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop set out the reasons for 149 infrastructure, mining, and housing projects getting fast-track planning approval.
“We’ve got to get back to an economy where growth is paramount, and we do as much as we can to get growth into the arteries of this economy,” he said.
There were predictable objections from some of the environmental lobby groups. There were more serious questions about conflicts of interest, with at least one major National donor featured on the list for fast-tracking approval for a housing development.
And though Bishop was able to present the list as a National triumph; its origins lie in a New Zealand First proposal that they brought to the coalition negotiations.
Unfortunately, the Bill’s father, Development Minister Shane Jones, had aircraft problems and was unable to make it to Wellington for yesterday’s launch..
However, some of his party’s long-promised projects, like the Northland port dry dock and the upgrade of the rail line from Southdown to Avondale to link with the northern line, were on the list.
Also, there was a series of Jones’ much-promoted mining projects, including the one that may well prove to be a requirement for Archies’ Frog.
That Oceana gold mine on the Coromandel provoked Jones to say that if it came down to a choice between the mine and the frog, it would be “bye-bye Freddie.”
Labour, which had its own list of fast-track proposals under the Natural and Built Environments Act was consequently was left with little room to criticise the list.
Instead, it talked about backroom deals. But it singled out coal and iron sands companies. It didn’t mention what may prove to be a more controversial decision: the approval of the 3400-house Sunfield housing development in Papakura, Auckland.
Sunfield’s developer, the Winton Group, is currently suing Kainga Ora for $138.5 million after it refused to allow its development to be a Specified Development Project, which would have fast-tracked its planning application.
That is precisely the kind of problem the Fast Track process outlined yesterday is designed to remedy.
But Winton is closely linked to National.
The former National Finance Minister, Steven Joyce, is a director of the company and interests associated with it and its chairman, Craig Meehan gave National $156,000 in the two years leading up to the election and another $52,000 to ACT.
The company also stands to benefit from the Residential Development Underwrite programme announced on Friday, which will underwrite the construction of a development with a minimum of 30 houses but with all the required resource consents for residential housing.
But Bishop said Ministers had taken advice from the Cabinet Office on conflicts of interest and were satisfied there were none.
“The advice that I’ve received is that donations in and of themselves through parties do not create a conflict of interest for the government,” said Bishop.
“In relation to the conflict of interest process, we took thorough and robust advice from the Cabinet Office and followed their recommendations to ministers, as well as the letter of their advice to us, as ministers.
“And, you know, that’s really important.
“We’ve been really mindful and conscious of that process the whole way through.”
But even if there is a conflict, that still leaves 148 other applications, some of which will be welcomed.
The Environmental Defence Society CEO, Gary Taylor, was not entirely opposed to the list.
“Listed projects include public infrastructure, energy and housing developments, which will help bridge New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit and housing shortage,” he said.
“EDS is not opposed to fast-track processes for essential public infrastructure and housing.
“The Resource Management Act can be too slow and too expensive.
“However, the Fast-track Approvals Bill goes way beyond what is required to streamline processes.
“The list of questionable projects includes coal mines, open pit gold mines on conservation covenants, projects that have already been declined by independent decision-makers, major extensions to Auckland wharves and many more disasters for our natural environment.”
The more radical Greenpeace organisation said the list of projects brought the bleak vision of New Zealand as a giant open-cast mine one step closer.
Certainly, there are mines on the list: the Oceana gold mine in the Coromandel and, perhaps surprisingly, an open-cast coal mine at Rotowaro about 10km to the west of the Huntly Power Station, which has been importing coal from Indonesia to keep generating during periods when the hydro lakes are low.
Its need for coal is expected to be greater next year with the rundown of the gas fields, and Bathurst Resources, which runs Rotowaro, has plans to expand production.
Another potentially controversial area will be the listing of Trans-Tasman Resources, which proposes to mine iron sands from the seabed off the coast of Taranaki.
Maori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has vigorously opposed this.
But ironically, there is also approval of the expansion of an iwi-owned ironsand project at Taharoa on the west coast, about 40 km west of Otorohanga.
Bishop also pointed out that there were a number of quarries on the list of approved projects.
“There is no doubt that quarrying and mining has a really important role to play in the New Zealand economy,” he said.
“One of the reasons why construction cost inflation for roads, for example, has been so high in New Zealand over the last few years is that we have a shortage of aggregate and a shortage of fill for some of these projects.
“It’s really hard to consent to a quarry; talk to anybody who owns or wants to expand a quarry.
“It’s really hard, and we need more quarries.
“It is a basic requirement of a modern country that you have quarries with the material that comes from quarries.
“So, our expectation is that we need more of them.”
Just because a project is on the list unveiled does not mean it will get automatically consented.
Bishop is not including the list in the Bill that is currently before the Select Committee but instead will present it as an amendment to the Bill during the Second Reading in the House.
That way he can avoid having the Select Committee and submitters relitigate every decision to include a project on the list.
But they will still have to go before an Expert Panel, which will be set up and run by the Environmental Protection Authority.
Bishop said the panels would be able to turn down projects or add conditions to consents.
The granting of a consent did not mean a project would automatically then go ahead.
An example is the proposal to redevelop Eden Park into a 50,000–plus–seat stadium with a retractable roof, which is on the list but has yet to have its funding confirmed.
“We’re going to get a whole suite of projects lined up, consented, permitted and ready to go as funding becomes available,” he said.
“And as the economic circumstances, which obviously vary from day to day, get in place, people can go off and get those projects built.
The full list of projects is here.
What stood out yesterday was the way Bishop framed the projects.
Usually, when the Prime Minister or Ministers like Simeon Brown talk about developments and projects, they tend to define what they are talking about as a response to a failure by the last Government.
Bishop did not do that. He barely mentioned Labour.
“This government wants New Zealand to be a high-growth economy,” he said.
“Growth is what enables the economy to provide flourishing jobs and the public services that we depend on.
“The reason why Australia has better public services than New Zealand is because they are 30% wealthier than we are.
“And the reason they are is that, for 30 years, they have grown faster than New Zealand.
“We want New Zealand to be an ambitious country with high-quality public services and with good paying jobs so that New Zealanders can conceive of their own conception of the good life, look after their families and enjoy the kind of material comforts that other countries enjoy.
“That’s what growth means.
“We’ve got to get back to an economy where growth is paramount, and we do as much as we can to get growth into the arteries of this economy.”
Yesterday was a big day for the Government and possibly a turning point.
