Fast-Track to Fast-Fail

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 pm, June 8th, 2024 - 35 comments
Categories: chris bishop, democracy under attack, Environment, Shane Jones, simeon brown, vision - Tags: ,

If one were to imagine a really bad re-make of The Fast and the Furious with really poor production execution and bad actors, one could realistically dream up something that would resemble the coalition government, despite the obligatory (imaginary) movie’s disclaimer. Such an exercise in fantasy land would inevitably end up as a Fast Flop at the box office. Heck, it even has a middle-aged bald actor with a greasy surname as the main lead, just like the coalition government.

The coalition government treats New Zealand society as a business that has to cut costs to make a profit and that has to satisfy its shareholders who are definitely not all New Zealanders.

Given the fast-track scheme, it is also possible the party regards democratic deliberation and consultation as a cost.

The coalition government’s business mentality sacrifices anything and everything (the means justify the end) for economic efficiency, which explains the crudeness of its political expediency such as pushing through laws and law changes under urgency in Parliament, cutting down time for Select Committees to ask for, receive, and review & discuss submissions from the public (including experts) and to report back to Parliament. In other words, the coalition government takes short-cuts and cuts corners to quickly push through its mendacious agenda. It goes without saying that this is intrinsically undemocratic and the Fast-Track Approvals Bill is the most mendacious move so far by the coalition government as it bypasses the RMA and other existing legislation and hands all decision-making power to three men who have shown to have little respect for due democratic process and only seem to be accountable to their parties and respective leaders.

Consultation, participation, and deliberation should be at the heart of the democratic process. However, these take time, sometimes considerable time. But time is money, according to business leaders who argue that we cannot afford holding up things as this would be damaging [to] the economy.

The coalition government’s agenda is more of the same boring stuff that lacks imagination and boldness. The four dreary D’s of the three dorky D’s (i.e. Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown, and Shane Jones) are: dig, drill, drain, and dairy. Exporting more raw products in larger volumes is not an efficient plan to lift this nation’s prosperity and it will be even less effective in lifting our health and wellbeing. Let’s spend $4 billion on potholes instead of funding cancer treatments.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic many of us have re-evaluated and rebalanced our lives and changed our perceptions and priorities of what is more and less important and urgent. This was perhaps a silver lining of the pandemic. Unfortunately, economic dogma has remained unchanged, as immutable as dogmas are. Less is more in our daily lives. We have become slaves to technology and have become more superficial too; it takes time to [learn to] appreciate and enjoy the good things in and of life.

More of the same boring stuff at an even faster pace is a recipe for unhappy workers who burn out even faster and more frequently. This doesn’t just apply to so-called knowledge workers but to all of us, including part-timers who may soon no longer enjoy enough sick leave to fully recover, which should give us pause to think.

Unlike good business managers, this coalition of mediocre neo-authoritarians, arrogant as they are, has not shown any signs of ability to learn from mistakes and is on a fast-track to fast-fail. However, we don’t need worry about them because no matter what, cosy jobs will await them on Boards where they can continue practicing their ill-fated foolishness.

35 comments on “Fast-Track to Fast-Fail ”

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  1. Cricklewood 1
    8 June 2024 at 7:41 pm

    I say better to leave it be, imagine what could be achieved by a left govt using fast track… better to suck it up for 3 years then use it to make the changes we really need.

    • bwaghorn 1.1
      9 June 2024 at 9:54 am

      Hmmm I wonder if Auckland would have had light rail if they had fast track

      • Cricklewood 1.1.1
        9 June 2024 at 11:17 am

        Prob not, purely because they couldnt even settle on the route and under / overground.

    • Incognito 1.2
      9 June 2024 at 12:37 pm

      It is not the point what can be achieved with the Fast-Track Approvals Bill if/when it becomes Act, be it by the Left or Right – the means don’t justify the end. The point is that it is ostentatiously undemocratic and left unchallenged it opens the door to other even more anti-democratic actions by neo-authoritarian governments, present and future ones.

      Anne Salmond raised the issue again in her article in Newsroom today: https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/06/09/anne-salmond-undermining-democracy/.

      And I link again to the recent article by Alexander Gillespie: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/517329/fast-track-laws-parliamentary-urgency-treaty-tension-media-retreat-warning-signs-for-nz-s-brittle-democracy

      • Stephen D 1.2.1
        9 June 2024 at 2:11 pm

        I’m really looking forward to Julie Anne Genter being Minister of Transport. Think of all the fast track cycle ways!

        • Bearded Git 1.2.1.1
          9 June 2024 at 3:29 pm

          Good to hear you are coming over to cycleways Stephen. (sarc)

          And you may be relieved to know that under this government cycleway development is proceeding apace in Wanaka and Queenstown (and I believe in other places in the motu) because of the tracks already committed to by the previous government or local councils.

          Given that this is looking like a one-term government, especially in light of the 20,000 people marching in Auckland against their ridiculous fast-track bill (though I do accept that the previous Labour government opened the door for this with its own somewhat milder but also mistaken fast track bill*) the next tranche of cycleways will be able to be developed by the new left-of centre government in 2026 almost seamlessly.

          *Labour's fast-track bill, among other things, enabled a whole host of intrusive subdivisions near Queenstown contrary to the district plan. The Greens did not support fast-tracking.

  2. Jim Skeats 2
    9 June 2024 at 7:43 am

    If Global Warming/ Cooling/ Raining/ Warming/ snowing/ flooding/ changey things is indeed the greatest threat the Left Luvvies are scared about, why in the last 6 years were there so few approvals for offshore wind? Onshore wind? Solar? Why -because The Watermelons are a bunch of geriatric white feminist town planners, aka Angry Julie Genter. Not delivering jobs for Maori is simply racist. Thats why your Fast Track complaints can never be taken seriously. Shane Jones delivers jobs and renewables while you white boys just talk the talk but never walk the walk.

    • Mike the Lefty 2.1
      9 June 2024 at 8:37 am

      Try rewriting this so it actually makes a tad of sense, if you can.

    • mickysavage 2.2
      9 June 2024 at 9:08 am

      Hmmm denies climate change then complains about offshore wind when there is 1.5 gw of electricity worth of consented or likely consented on shore wind farms to be built.

      The problem is not the RMA. It is market conditions.

    • Grey Area 2.3
      9 June 2024 at 11:29 am

      Please DNFTT.

    • lprent 2.4
      10 June 2024 at 1:11 pm

      why in the last 6 years were there so few approvals for offshore wind? Onshore wind? Solar?

      The Transpower electricity grid isn't currently designed for nor been upgraded to handle large amounts of renewable power from locations spotted all over the country and on the continental shelf.

      Approvals and financing is mostly contingent on being able to actually put power into the electricity grid. That is based on where the grid is currently able to accept power and where that power can get to without excessive transmission power losses.

      That is the main reason why the major push for new sources of renewable energy has been from geothermal over the last couple of decades. The plant sizes have been reasonably large and conveniently located near other generating facilities of the same type. That meant that it was relatively inexpensive to hook on to their connections to the grid, relatively near the major population and production centres further north.

      The solar options are largely north of Auckland where the sunshine is more productive, Unfortunately there is virtually no generating capacity in the north and also limited capacity for transmitting power to Auckland.

      Currently most of the offshore wind interest (as I understand it) are focused on the shallow seas of the South and North Taranaki brights. The area has had limited generating facilities and consequently limited grid transmission capabilities, and none currently for connecting the grid to offshore installations. The linked report is notable for never actually talking about how the grid should be connected and upgraded. In particular who pays for the upgrades to support offshore connections.

      As with any onshore generation development, the capacity of the national electricity grid at the connection location is an important consideration. Transpower has advised that a 200MW offshore wind development in Taranaki waters may be able to fully export to the current grid while a large 800MW (or greater) offshore development would require either a grid upgrade or a dedicated connection to a regional industrial plant.

      Taranaki does have a offshore industry developed on the oil and gas. However they also still have oil and gas extraction going on and proposals for strip mining the seafloor. All of which tend to conflict with using the same area fr

      Shane Jones delivers jobs and renewables while you white boys just talk the talk but never walk the walk.

      Bullshit. Which is exactly what Shane is mostly known for. Great on rhetoric. Never delivers anything significiant.

      This "white boy" looks at mostly actual engineering and economics. Shane Jones jut looks at how he can roll his vowels and if it gives him a hard on to be at the front of the room. All of the crap that I have ever heard Shane Jones sprout on is not doable as soon as it gets above putting up a small sport centre in a tiny town. That is because he never looks at feasibility of anything.

      That was what he was like in Labour – so much so that I pegged him as a bag of hot air who has a bad leak the very first time I heard him speak. Aspirations are all well and good, but his "solutions" were old economic retreads from the 1950s where he clearly didn't understand the underlying logic.

      It is what he was like a chair at Sealord. Strip-farming out the company so that it ran with a poor to minimal profit as its infrastructure declined and with some really piss-poor offshore investments.

      The provincial growth fund was an unmitigated waste of value because it never delivered any actual growth, and never looks likely to do so. Great if you want a sports centre in a town. Doesn't increase growth.

      In my opinion, the only thing that Shane Jones has ever managed to realistically achieve in his lifetime has been to self-promote his own interests.

      Why -because The Watermelons are a bunch of geriatric white feminist town planners, aka Angry Julie Genter.

      Clearly you're part of the "too lazy to learn" blowhard brigade as well. Can I suggest getting an inflatable sex toy, so you can use your hot air productively? But be careful of how it is charged…

      Genter is often somewhat enthusiastic about timescales and is often loose on how to pull the political capital together to actually achieve something. But she does do enough detail work on the economic and engineering so what she proposes would probably work.

      There really isn't any comparison between Jones bullshit and Genter's enthusiasm for anyone with the competence to evaluate the projects. Jones is a just a useless dickhead out for grabbing a margin for himself. Genter's projects have real possibilities of achieving the capabilities that they are intended to achieve.

    • Ad 2.5
      10 June 2024 at 4:08 pm

      There is no regulatory system in place for offshore wind power. There is also no system yet for allocating blocks for wind generation (as they have for oil and gas exploration).

      Both those will require new legislation, not armwaving from any Minister.

      There are four offshore wind proposals going through data collection on ocean currents and current layering, and wind measurements. One is NZSuper. Discussions with ports and iwi and locals have been going on for over two years already.

      Victoria does have an offshore regulatory system in place, but they are finding the port upgrade requirements very hard and are in their third round of onshore proposals with that state.

      The tasks are with MBIE, Transpower, Ports of Taranaki, Kiwirail, NZTA, and others before you get to investors and a solid proposal to build.

      However you will be aware that the Labour government saw a massive acceleration of onshore wind and onshore solar generation.

      Come back for more facts when you're ready.

  3. Anne 3
    9 June 2024 at 9:45 am

    Exporting more raw products in larger volumes is not an efficient plan to lift this nation’s prosperity and it will be even less effective in lifting our health and wellbeing. Let’s spend $4 billion on potholes instead of funding cancer treatments.

    I remember my Dad sounding off about the idiocy of exporting raw products back in the 1960/70s. So 60 yrs on, the "dreary dorks" still haven't cottoned on. Too hard for their dried up brains to contemplate.

    I mean look at that photo. Do they give you a feeling of confidence? I could say more about that but would get me into trouble. 😉

  4. AB 4
    9 June 2024 at 10:59 am

    Let’s spend $4 billion on potholes instead of funding cancer treatments.

    Oh ye of little faith Incognito! Others disagree – Kerre Woodham for instance says that "the pothole fund gives me hope".

    Now I had always thought that poor old ST Coleridge had written one of the finest lines in the language on this topic when, in a state of dejection, he recalled his youth: "For hope grew round me like the twining vine…"

    But Kerre outshines him with this: "What utter joy checks and balances and targets are… hopefully, there will be measures in place … to ensure that every cent goes into actual repairs and not into layers and layers of management and orange cones"

    ST just identified the problem, but Kerre goes beyond that and delivers.

    • Anne 4.1
      9 June 2024 at 11:23 am

      From the link:

      “This a step change. This is about actually ensuring that the funding goes into not just the patchwork quilt we've seen on our roads under the last three years of the last government.

      That was as far as I read.

      So, does she think that because many of those pot holes appeared after the Labour Govt. came to power they must be to blame? Did it not occur to her they were the result of cheaper, inferior material being used to repair the roads under the previous National Govt? Is she that thick?

      It would seem the "dried up brain" theory extends well into the rank and file of the NAct acolytes.

      • Maurice 4.1.1
        9 June 2024 at 9:04 pm

        Did it not occur to her they were the result of cheaper, inferior material being used to repair the roads under the previous National Govt?

        The rot set in after the Refinery was closed and substandard imports could not be rectified locally. Don't think that was done by the "previous National Govt."

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/464410/nzta-tight-lipped-on-plans-for-importing-bitumen-but-z-energy-confirms-it-will-leave-market

        Waka Kotahi's move raises questions similar to those debated at the refinery, about the security of supply, but also as to whether other importers, such as Downer, will also pull out, and if NZTA has the expertise to negotiate bitumen deals in the world market.

        RNZ approached major road contractors Downer, Fulton Hogan and Higgins for comment, but got none.

        Also, the storage of all that bitumen might be a headache if NZTA has to secure a lot of tanks.

        It is also up in the air how any subpar bitumen will be dealt with; previously, the oil refinery could be called on to tweak it so it was usable.

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.2
      9 June 2024 at 11:35 am

      Ol' Kerre, what a case ! Back in the day (wayy back)..I had some time for her, but she must finally have found her true nature as shown.

      I once did have a listen to her on "talkback". As I also tried some of the other "Hosts". Have to say…I had an uneasy sense my neurons were depleting with every word.

    • Incognito 4.3
      9 June 2024 at 11:57 am

      Kerre has gone a bit potty waxing lyrical, as if she’s drooling over a 70s boy band from her youth.

      I’m not the only one of little faith: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/518641/cancer-patients-dubious-government-will-deliver-on-promise-to-fund-new-drugs

    • SPC 4.4
      9 June 2024 at 11:59 am

      Every new road the heavier trucks allowed on the roads by National is one more requiring pothole maintenance.

      Financial sink hole.

      • mpledger 4.4.1
        9 June 2024 at 12:35 pm

        Yea, National let heavier trucks with more axles on the road. Everyone told them it would screw the roads but they didn't care. Now the problem has come to a head and they socialise the cost of road repairs rather than make the businesses that cause the problem pay the cost. And all at the expense of people with cancer.

        Why do they give away money to businesses that are already successful – ECE sector, road haulage, landlords. And all these are all service industries where the scope for growth is pretty limited – they all depend on importing more people. And unless NZ companies get to do the extraction, the extractive industries aren't of much benefit to NZ either, everyone else makes the profit and the tax back is usually a pittance – not enough to cover the harm done.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.4.2
        9 June 2024 at 1:35 pm

        And… pothole made, repaired, made, repaired. Repeat.

      • gsays 4.4.3
        9 June 2024 at 8:57 pm

        Yet another ripe opportunity for the opposition to be reminding the electorate of this regimes hypocrisy.

        Crickets

  5. Incognito 5
    9 June 2024 at 12:22 pm

    Fast-Track this: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/519057/auckland-floods-some-homeowners-left-waiting-until-2025-for-buyout-news

    I’m sure Auckland is not the only area lagging and I’d imagine a similar situation dragging on in the Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne regions, as usual.

    • adam 5.1
      9 June 2024 at 10:13 pm

      Tory governments are good at delay tactics, the screaming broke, and labour did it. Seems to work with some people.

  6. Champagne Socialist 6
    10 June 2024 at 10:22 am

    The brilliant Gary Stevenson – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dY7eBjqsA8

  7. Ad 7
    10 June 2024 at 10:33 am

    Cabinet should be wary of this term "fast track".

    Back in 2009 Minister Nick Smith pulled the Turitea Wind Farm in form direct Ministerial decisionmaking.

    That was after years of planning and hearings. It still took further years for a decision from Smith and relevant agencies to confirm it. The final design was far smaller than originally proposed, and the delays and redesigns required a new change of investor to even get going.

    It was not until 2022 that the thing was constructed and finally added tot he national grid.

    I have a sneaking suspicion that "fast track" will go the same way as "nuclear free moment" and "transfiormational".

  8. Mike the Lefty 8
    10 June 2024 at 7:47 pm

    We've already seen that despite all the good reasons why National shouldn't do tax cuts (for the already pretty well off) they went ahead and did them anyway.

    The same will happen with this fast track legislation and the reason will the same as the first: because one of their coalition partners has demanded it thus they will get it.

    And when one of National's promises comes up for implementation – the cancer drugs – it gets the heave ho. That's all folks! come again next year.

    National voters thought they were electing a National-led government. (laughter)

    Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see who is really running this government.

  9. Anker 9
    10 June 2024 at 9:27 pm

    https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/fast-tracked-wind-farms-will-cut-emissions-and-create-jobs

    can someone explain to me the difference between Labours fast track approach (including during Covid 19 when David Parker was just one Minister fast tracking approvals and the coalition has three ministers) and the continuation of this fast tracking under labour post covid?

    • Incognito 9.1
      10 June 2024 at 9:38 pm

      I think you’re not properly informed.

      Wait, haven’t there been fast-track consenting laws in New Zealand before?

      Yes – during the Covid pandemic in 2020, the previous Labour government put a similar law into place. For a limited time, in order to stimulate the economy, the resource consenting process could be expedited for specific “shovel-ready” projects that were under the RMA. If the minister for the environment accepted a proposal, it was referred to an expert panel, which could ask councils and iwi, among others, for input, with the panel then delivering a decision within 70 days.

      Under the 2020 legislation, ministers decided which applications went to the expert panel, but the panel had the final say. The law was also time bound, with a clause that meant it expired after two years.

      The current bill, on the other hand, gives ministers the ultimate decision. Instead of just applying to consents under the Resource Management Act, it would also allow projects to skip nine other laws and regulations.

      https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-06-2024/whats-going-on-with-the-controversial-fast-track-approvals-bill

  10. Anker 10
    11 June 2024 at 3:30 pm

    Thanks Incognito. I think the fact that I asked for clarification indicates I didn’t pretend to be well informed. I haven’t followed the fast track bill much

    • Incognito 10.1
      11 June 2024 at 4:52 pm

      I could tell from the way you phrased your question as a comparison of Labour/David Parker and the coalition government, which was misleading, that you weren’t properly informed. I addressed your information gap. I can add to that the fact that the coalition government has already repealed the Natural and Built Environment Act by the previous Labour government: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nba-and-spa-successfully-repealed.

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