Parker DavidFirst ReadingHon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): I move That the COVID19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Environment Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 29 June 2020 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting (except during oral questions) during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area despite Standing Orders 191 193 and 194(1)(b) and (c).The COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Bill is part of the Government's response to support New Zealand's recovery from the economic and social disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic so that we can create jobs and rebuild our economy. The Government has taken urgent action to support people and the economy against the effects of COVID-19; however the unemployment rate is rising. Although I disagreed with Mr Falloon in his earlier contribution on a prior bill as to the prediction as to how high unemployment is going to go which I think is now a bit out of date it is true that over 45000 people have newly accessed the jobseeker benefit during the COVID-19 lockdown and since. The Government is making significant investments in infrastructure to bring forward those investments so as to get the economy moving and people back into jobs and this bill will ensure that the resource management system supports this investment by speeding up resource consenting and designation processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA) to get projects started as soon as possible.The bill lists 11 projects that will progress first and have a high level of certainty of being approved. These include drinking-water storage housing cycleway and rail upgrade and roading projects. Those named projects are located across the country from Kaikohe to Queenstown. Of course the select committee can recommend adding or subtracting from this list after it receives submissions or potentially it may move projects to the second track. One example might be Te Pā Tāhuna housing project in Queenstown which may be delayed due to the fall-off in tourism demand. If so another Queenstown project such as a bypass to address Queenstown's gridlock could be added to the list.Fast-track legislation has been used before after the Canterbury earthquake and the Hurunui/Kaikōura Earthquakes Recovery Act 2016 was another that modified resource consent processes to help those communities recover from the devastation wrought by the earthquakes. While wider public participation and appeal rights provided for in the standard resource consent processes under the RMA are appropriate in normal circumstances they don't provide the speed urgently needed now. In our view however positive environmental outcomes don't need to be sacrificed so this bill modifies existing RMA provisions so as to process to significantly speed them up whilst retaining environmental safeguards. Part 2 of the RMA will still apply to fast-track projects under the legislation. Furthermore when the panel makes their decision they've got to continue to apply the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty settlement obligations will also be upheld.The bill enables the establishment of expert consenting panels. These are convened by a sitting or retired Environment Court judge who also appoints the chairperson for each panel and its members. These panels will consider the projects listed in the bill or those referred to them through an Order in Council. Panels will be responsible for considering and determining resource consents and designations for those projects. They will have similar powers to consenting authorities which are normally councils followed by Environment Courts under appeal under the RMA. Panels will be chaired normally by a sitting or retired Environment Court judge but on occasions a senior RMA lawyer could be appointed in that person's stead. The panel will have a minimum of three commissioners and include nominees from the relevant local authorities and local iwi authorities. Each panel is expected to include resource management expertise as well as technical expertise in relation to the project and its effect and each panel will include expertise in tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori.The new bill speeds up the time frames to consent applications and designations that would otherwise be publicly notified and for which service would be served on affected parties. It's expected the panel will normally take up to 25 working days from the date it receives feedback from specified stakeholders. That time frame can be extended to 50 days for more complex or larger projects. The fast-track consenting process will then therefore be significantly faster than standard RMA processes for complex projects. The processing time for such applications is often many months—sometimes years if a decision is appealed to the Environment Court.There are three tracks for projects to be progressed. The first is the projects listed in the bill; I've already referred to them. On those the panel's function is largely limited to imposing conditions. The second track applies to other public or private projects. A person with an eligible project can apply to the Minister for the Environment. The Minister consults other Ministers and if satisfied overall that the project meets the purpose of the bill and the eligibility criteria the project can be referred to the fast-track process panel via an Order in Council. The bill is intended in that case also to speed up processes whilst providing environmental safeguards through the application of Part 2 of the RMA including the recognition of matters of national importance. The Minister for the Environment will have a broad ability to decline applications to use track two and those instances are laid out in the bill. Track three relates to permitted activities on existing infrastructure. This third track under the legislation enables some Government agencies and perhaps in the future local government to undertake smaller-scale works on existing infrastructure without a resource consent. Those agencies have a clear role in delivering public benefit. They're subject to a high level of scrutiny in public-private organisations and normally have governing legislation that requires environmental considerations and other safeguards.New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and KiwiRail holdings are being permitted to carry out repair maintenance and minor upgrade works to their existing infrastructure within the road and rail corridor. The bill sets out which activities can be undertaken and standards which must be met when carrying out those works. These provisions will enable NZTA and KiwiRail to start work on their existing assets quickly after the bill is enacted reducing the lead-in time to get routine projects started and getting people across New Zealand working on this large number of smaller jobs. The bill also enables Government agencies Kāinga Ora and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development as well as local government to access these track three provisions if confirmed through an Order in Council. Again all actions under this legislation must be consistent with both the principles of the Treaty and Treaty settlements. This aligns with the Crown's obligations under the Treaty. Applications for the fast-track processes must include information on the impact of the project on Māori and on Treaty settlements. Iwi authorities will have the ability to nominate a member to each expert consenting panel for projects within their areas of interest and panels will be required to seek comments from iwi on all projects referred to them for consideration.To support New Zealand's recovery from the potential impacts we do need to speed up resource consent processes and this is necessary to get people employed. This justifies limiting normal rights of public participation and the normal appeal right to the Environment Court on the merits. This is in effect being replaced by a single-step process headed by normally an Environment Court judge. There will be targeted consultation. Panels will receive written submissions from nominated organisation peak bodies—from business and environmental groups for example. There will be no requirement for the panel to hold a viva-voce hearing but they will have the power to hold one if they consider it necessary. Given the importance of the objectives of this bill I believe that these temporary limits to wider public participation are appropriate.This bill is a necessary response to the social and economic effects of COVD-19. It's a short-term intervention to support our recovery. It's not the long-term response to the fundamental issues that need reform in the RMA—that's being done through a process led by Tony Randerson QC former Court of Appeal judge.Hon Nathan Guy: You've got the report haven't you?Hon DAVID PARKER: No I actually haven't got the final report but I'm expecting it within weeks and will release it soon thereafter.This bill I think is worthy of the support of the House and I commend it to other parties.