The government’s draft ‘one-stop shop’ approval system bill will see ministers no longer have the final say on fast-track projects – the coalition has announced a major change to the proposed approval system.

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced a list of “meaningful changes” to the legislation this afternoon. The process has already attracted “huge interest”, with more than 300 applicants.

Cabinet has agreed to recommend five changes to the Environment Select Committee currently examining government legislation.

The biggest change is that final decisions on fast-track projects will no longer rest with ministers, but with a panel of experts. The government stressed that the change now reflects the process used in the previous Labour government’s fast-track legislation.

In the original version of the law, ministers would have made the final decision on whether projects would continue, even if a panel of experts had not recommended this.

Bishop said: “These changes strike the right balance between enabling large projects, maintaining the one-stop-shop nature of the law and giving public confidence in a fair and reasonable process.”

Critics had previously accused the proposed bill of being undemocratic.

Further announced changes

According to the announced changes, projects will now also be forwarded by the Minister of Infrastructure alone to a panel of experts, which “must consult the Minister of the Environment and other relevant ministers as part of this forwarding process”.

The deadlines for comments in the referral and panel phases will also be extended to “provide parties, including those affected by a proposed project, with more time to submit comments.”

“The expert panels will include experts in environmental issues; an iwi authority representative will only be included if required by contractual arrangements; and they will include experts in Māori development and Te Ao Māori rather than Mātauranga Māori.”

“Applicants must attach to their applications information about previous decisions of the licensing authorities, including previous court decisions, so that the responsible minister can examine them,” the government said in a statement.

Almost 400 projects have applied to be included in the bill

According to the government, 384 projects have applied to be included in the bill.

40 percent of the applications received concern housing and urban development projects, 24 percent infrastructure projects, 18 percent renewable energy projects, 8 percent basic industry projects, 5 percent quarry projects and 5 percent mining projects.

The project proposals were examined by an independent advisory group, which then presented a report to ministers with recommendations on the projects to be included in the draft legislation.

In the coming months, the Cabinet will examine which projects will be listed in Annex Two of the bill.

They would then be included in a document to be presented to Parliament when the Fast-Track Approvals Bill returns to Parliament later this year, the government said.

Once the law is passed, the listed projects will be able to apply directly to a panel of experts to obtain a final decision and the application of any conditions.

Bishop said: “We are delighted with the high level of interest in our fast-track process. New Zealand is suffering from a housing crisis, a massive infrastructure deficit and very ambitious climate targets.

“The Fast Track program will be a major step forward for both the government and the private sector in addressing these triple challenges.”