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Kaipara District Council has thrown its formal support behind the government’s proposed Fast-Track Approvals Bill, but its criticism over the priority that the bill gives to iwi has drawn sharp criticism by two elected members.
In its submission to a select committee considering the legislation, the council said it was “inappropriate that the bill gives a much greater priority to the rights of iwi than to the rights of other ratepayers and residents in our district”.
The concerns of all in Kaipara should carry equal weight, whatever their ethnicity, it said.
The legislation provides for a four-person expert panel to evaluate projects seeking fast-track consent, with one of the four members nominated by the applicable local authority and one by the relevant iwi.
“This apparent equivalence between local authorities and iwi authorities seems to us totally inappropriate, and is likely to result in the concerns of Māori residents and ratepayers being given a disproportionately greater weight than the concerns of other ratepayers in our district,” the council submission said, noting too that the word ‘iwi’ appeared 56 times in the legislation.
Since the submission had to reach the committee before an April 19 deadline, it was formulated by Mayor Craig Jepson and Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen, acting under delegated authority.
The document was then presented to the council’s monthly meeting on May 29, for elected members to “note”.
Councillors Ihapera Paniora and Eryn Wilson-Collins vehemently objected, with Paniora – Kaipara’s first Māori ward councillor – calling the assertion that the bill gave Māori “greater weight” than other ratepayers “totally untrue and unfounded”.
Māori rights were in fact being “trampled right now under this three-headed taniwha”, she added, referring to the National/NZ First/ACT government.
Paniora said the submission should have been presented in the names of Jepson and Larsen, not sent on a council letterhead and purporting to be the view of the council as a whole.
Wilson-Collins said she was “embarrassed by this submission” and was not alone in the chamber or the council organisation to feel that way. Like Paniora, she did not want to be associated with it.
“Obviously we have philosophical differences in the room,” Jepson acknowledged.
After reading aloud the portion of the submission to which Paniora and Wilson-Collins had objected, he said, “I would say that the majority of my council would agree with that statement”.
Mayoral involvement sought
The coalition government says the fast-track legislation aims to facilitate the efficient provision of large-scale projects “with significant regional or national benefits”, by reducing the costs and time needed for consenting.
An expert panel would consider applications for accelerated consent, but with a ministerial trio – Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Transport Minister Simeon Brown – having the final say.
Concerned about the potential environmental impact of the process, green advocacy groups are spearheading opposition to the bill, which is still going through the select committee process.
In its submission, KDC said the draft legislation should be amended to empower the relevant mayor to grant or decline applications alongside the three ministers – if the mayor asks to be involved.
This would improve the local decision- making process and add local contextual information, it said.
Overall, the submission said KDC strongly supported the legislation’s stated intent.
