Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has unveiled the Government’s fast-track legislation, ticking off one of the final and most complicated items on his 100-day plan.
However, a potential storm is brewing over controversial remarks made by David Seymour this morning about TVNZ, which Labour’s broadcasting spokesman Willie Jackson said amount to censorship.
Luxon made the announcement joined by senior ministers Chris Bishop, Shane Jones, and Simeon Brown at Wellington’s Basin Reserve. The bill is a big shake-up to New Zealand’s consenting regime and essentially allows ministers to consent projects themselves, with independent panels only having the power to add conditions to those consents.
Jones said the bill would “improve the speed and process for resource approvals for major infrastructure projects, unlocking opportunities in industries such as aquaculture and mining in our regions”.
“For too long, New Zealanders have had to wait for progress in their towns and cities due to the overly-restrictive RMA. Today we have taken the first steps in cutting through this mess of red tape, so we can supercharge New Zealand’s infrastructure and economic potential,” RMA Reform Minister Bishop said.
Among the first projects likely to be fast-tracked are the Government’s transport commitments, announced this week by Brown. In an interview with the Herald on Tuesday, Brown heavily hinted that these would be fast-tracked to get them delivered quickly and reduce consenting costs.
Labour has been staunchly critical of the bill, with its environment spokeswoman Rachel Brooking warning the new process opens up questions of problematic political influence, describing it as “Muldoonist”.
Luxon said New Zealand had become an “obstruction economy”, held back by red tape in its efforts to upgrade infrastructure. He cited the years it takes to consent wind farms which will help the country achieve its climate change targets.
He said the new regime would enhance the building of infrastructure while honouring environment and Treaty obligations.
Jones said the move was an attempt to move the country from “cancel economics to can-do economics”. He said he wanted to see industries coming up with innovative ideas to solve the challenges they faced.
Jones said the Treaty commitments will be upheld through the settlements. There would also be the opportunity for iwi who hadn’t had settlements to play a role in the consenting process.
Asked if the new regime gave ministers too much power, Luxon said the current situation was not tenable and therefore needed addressing, saying he had already noted how his Government would make tough decisions. Luxon did believe there were enough checks and balances within the system, most notably the expert panel.
Ministers would have the ability to refer proposed projects back to the expert panel if the conditions suggested were deemed “too onerous”.
The regime was designed to be a “one-stop shop”, Bishop said, saying it wasn’t just about granting consents but all the various things required for a project to get up and running would be satisfied once ministers approved the project.
On what projects ministers were considering, Bishop said he didn’t want to get ahead of the expert advisory group, which would recommend what projects should be put in the bill first.
Asked what happens when a Government wanted to get one of its own projects consented, Bishop said he didn’t anticipate the regime would provide conflicts in this instance.
Bishop acknowledged one of the projects likely to be fast-tracked was the second Mt Victoria tunnel in Wellington, promised to be initiated within the first term of this Government.
Some of the projects will be good for the environment given they would lower emissions, Bishop argued. He cited how energy companies believed the Resource Management Act was a massive stumbling block for projects such as wind farms.
Bishop said big infrastructure projects employed a lot of people and enhanced productivity. Jones added that 12 hectares of aquafarming created $140 million per year, as an example of the productivity boost possible in some industries.
“We’re going to take six months to make a decision here, not six years,” Luxon said.
Luxon had every confidence conflicts of interest would be managed well by ministers.
Luxon also faced questions during his press conference about the comments of Act leader David Seymour, who has criticised TVNZ a number of times this week, including over its editorial judgments.
Seymour implied to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast it was hypocritical for the media to ask the Government for money while at the same time criticising it and celebrating slip-ups.
“But it’s also true, I saw a report on 1News, [political reporter] Benedict Collins grinning down the camera about Chris Luxon’s apartment costs. These are the people that cry, ‘Oh you’ve got to give us sympathy, and you’re inhumane and you should be kinder to us’.”
“But they have spent years celebrating and dancing at every slip that a politician makes, competing to get scalps as they call them.
“And all of a sudden they say, ‘but oh, when we have a bad day you’ve got to be kind to us’.”
Asked about Seymour’s comments, Luxon instead spoke of how it would be “incredibly unsettling” for TVNZ staff after it was announced today almost 70 jobs would have to be cut. He said he empathised with staff.
Pressed on Seymour’s comments, which included specific criticism of a TVNZ reporter - while Seymour acted as one of the ministers with responsibility over TVNZ - Luxon said he hadn’t seen the comments. He did note how most politicians would probably think they get unfair treatment by the media.
The line of questioning became all too much for Jones who said, while the PM was speaking: “A vibrant economy will be good to the media, bye bye.” Jones then left the press conference.
The Television New Zealand Act, which governs the organisation is very strict on the matter of editorial independence, particularly in relation to shareholding ministers, like Seymour, who carries that responsibility with his Associate Finance portfolio.
The TVNZ Act says that “no shareholding minister or any other minister, and no person acting by or on behalf of or at the direction of a shareholding minister or any other minister, may give a direction to TVNZ or to any of its subsidiaries, or to any director or officer or employee of TVNZ or of any of its subsidiaries, in respect of... any programme or other content... the gathering or presentation of news or the preparation or presentation of any current affairs programme or content”.
Former Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson told the Herald the remarks were a “disgrace”.
“This is our future Deputy Prime Minister wanting to censor the media because he gets tougher questions,” Jackson said.
“’Why should we be funding people who are mean to us?’ I mean, grow up David and remember the state or government has been funding media for generations and we ain’t suddenly going to change the rules because you and your two best friends [Mike] Hoskings [sic] and [Sean] Plunket are unhappy, okay?”
He said Hosking and Plunket had “worked for years with Government funding”, citing the men’s work for Radio New Zealand.
Responding to Jackson’s comments, Seymour said: “Willie has road-tested his outrage so much it’s lost all sense of traction.”
Regarding the TVNZ remarks, Seymour said he was raising a “legitimate question”.
“There are lots of calls for government to change its policies and assist media, where is the self-reflection on the part of reporters?”
He said his comments did not amount to editorial interference because they used a story to illustrate a wider commercial point, rather than critiquing a specific act or reporting.
“My comments were not about a specific story, they were designed to make a wider point.
“Using an example from a recent TVNZ story is not designed in any way to commentate on TVNZ,” he said.
The former Labour Government got in trouble over alleged editorial interference when it emerged minister Kiri Allan, who was not a shareholding minister, had made remarks about RNZ’s treatment of Māori staff at a leaving function.
At the time, Luxon described the remarks as typical of an “arrogant and entitled” Government.
Speaking to Newshub’s AM last year, Luxon said National wanted Allan “focused on fighting crime, not on opining about Radio New Zealand”.
Seymour has been increasingly critical of TVNZ. On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Seymour hit out at columns by John Campbell which referenced a “left-wing blog that is promoting wealth-tax-supporting David Parker”.
In another post, Seymour was critical of TVNZ for not referencing tweets by Lisa Te Morenga, the co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa, in a story in which Te Morenga was critical of Seymour.
In that tweet, Te Morenga said she “really really hope[s]” Seymour did not have children. The tweet was posted in 2017 during a debate about greater interventions in the lives of beneficiaries with children.
“What the Act Party says is there should always be a safety net for people whose partners abuse them or run out on them, or any number of circumstances that can leave you without income and with children, but if you keep having children while you’re on a benefit, then we’re going to give income management,” he told then Newshub Nation host Lisa Owen.
“We’re gonna pay your rent, pay your power, pay for the groceries so the kids get the benefit of those resources and we break the cycle of child poverty in this country.
“We don’t want the state controlling people’s reproduction. That’s disgusting. What we do need to say is that we have a crisis in this country where one in five children are born into a family dependent on a benefit.”
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.
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