Fast Track has been a lie for property pimps
Here is the tragedy.
Labour sat down and listened to the construction industry and built a pipeline of infrastructure work so that we didn’t face an exodus of workers to Australia.
National killed that infrastructure pipeline off which saw us lose tens of thousands of construction jobs…
Inside New Zealand’s shrinking building and construction industry
The New Zealand building and construction industry has shrunk over the past couple of years, with a full recovery unlikely in the near future, according to latest data.
The industry’s pattern of boom-bust-boom may have run its course, given the significant downturn seen over the past couple of years, with few signs of improvement.
Credit agency Centrix managing director Keith McLaughlin said it was unlikely to recover this year, with an upcoming election, rising interest rates, weak business and consumer confidence and a sluggish housing market.
RNZ
…they did this to favour Fast Track powers which have turned out to be a disaster because all they have turned out to be are pet projects for National Party donors…
Matthew Hooton: Fast-track worse than a failure
EDITORIAL: The Government’s fast-track consenting programme was politically and administratively dangerous from the start.
Governments pushing legislation through Parliament to favour or penalise specifically listed individuals, firms and projects is always constitutionally outrageous. Yet, shamefully and shamelessly, the Government listed them all out in Schedule 2 of its Fast-track Approvals Act 2024, from the Amuri Irrigation Company’s Balmoral Water Storage Facility and Fish Screen through to Winton Land’s Sunfield project on land Auckland Council believes is flood-prone.
Schedule 3 then outlined how the fast-track panels would work, with critics fearing the way the law was written meant the panels would have little choice but to tick off pretty much everything. To their credit, some panels have proven to be made of sterner stuff.
Beyond high-minded constitutional concerns, the political optics were also terrible, especially with so many of those behind the projects listed in the Act being known donors to government parties.
No one has suggested any direct causal link between even one of the donations and the project list, and nor do the Sunday Star-Times or The Post today. There is surely none. Yet it goes without saying that those close enough to politicians to make major donations are also likely to have the resources and connections to lobby their projects onto such a list.
As Stewart Sowman-Lund reveals on today’s front page, the Government is also embarrassed by the heavy representation of housing developments on the list, despite fast-track more often sold by the Government as about major infrastructure projects and monetising New Zealand’s underground wealth.
That worsens the optics given the very close and regularly reported links between the residential property industry and the National Party. There are also links between those on the list and big supporters of NZ First.
The Post
…I just don’t even understand what the bloody hell this is supposed to be…
An Auckland councillor has criticised fast-track approval for a controversial 1217-home development in Ōrewa, saying it will cost ratepayers millions in infrastructure and shouldn’t go ahead.
The project involves trucking treated effluent to Whangārei because Watercare will not be able to connect any water services to the area until at least 2050.
Stuff
…The Ōrewa fast-track approval will see 1200 homes without any sewage infrastructure until 2050 and the Sunfields fast tracked program (from a developer who donated to National) is being built on floodplains without any infrastructure!
Fast track approval for housing development – on a flood plain
One of Auckland’s largest new housing developments – the Sunfield “masterplanned community” near Ardmore airport in South Auckland has been the go-ahead under fast track provisions.
The plan developer, Winton, envisages nearly 4 thousand homes, a town centre, retail and healthcare buildings, three retirement villages and approximately 26 hectares of parks and reserves and ecological areas.
The regional development minister, Shane Jones, says the new it’ll deliver up to $3.2 billion to the economy and support more than 24,000 jobs over the 10 – 15 year building period.
But concerns have been raised about the fact it sits on a flood plain and the area doesn’t have extensive transport, water and sewerage infrastructure needed to support it.
The Fast Track panel that gave the go ahead did attach a number of conditions including the need for storm water and drainage management plans.
RNZ
How is building in places without sewage connection for 24 years and building on floodplains good for NZs housing stock?
The Sunfield fast-track housing development has become a symbol of everything broken in New Zealand politics — donor influence, weak infrastructure planning, and policies that punish the poor.
This entire disgusting fiasco reeks to high heaven of despicable corruption and housing policies that actively hurt the poor the most!!!
Fast-track panel ‘made legal errors’ on Sunfield: Auckland Council
The Auckland Council has appealed the Fast-track approval of Winton’s Sunfield development because it believes the panel did not fully consider the flood risk, and the impact on water and wastewater infrastructure. Publicly listed property developer Winton gained approval for its 3850-home Sunfield master-planned community through the Fast-track consenting process on 10 March 2026. The decision came with 179 pages of conditions, as much of the rurally zoned site northeast of Papakura is flood-prone and has no existing water or stormwater.
Why Sunfield is a planning disaster
A massive development, built upon flood plains, with no public transport infrastructure, no stormwater infrastructure and no sewage infrastructure is rammed through under Fast-track powers implemented by Chris Bishop, who has received donations from the Developer Winton?
For the love of the risen Zombie Jesus people – how much more blatant does the f**k you, to poor people need to be?
Only in a country as perverse in its pork barrel politics as New Zealand has become is this acceptable!
It’s a Banana Republic meets Cargo Cult.
This is not what urban development should look like!!!!
This is what not giving a shit about poor people looks like!
This is what bending over backwards for the developer looks like!
This is what corruption looks like!
The silence over political corruption
If this was a Labour MP who had crafted legislation for donors, the Right Wing Hate Trolls would scream and scream and scream.
Yet they are as silent as field mice, aren’t they?
It should be called FloodSwamp!
All this ‘development’ while the Government insists that their $140m housing promise is still on track despite only 18% of social homes being built…
Just 270 of 1500 social homes built to date after First Home Grant axed to fund them
The Housing Minister insists the Government is on track to deliver social housing funded by the cancellation of the First Home Grant and promised by the middle of next year.
Chris Bishop secured $140 million in Budget 2024 for community housing providers to deliver and operate 1500 new social homes by June 30, 2027.
It was funded by ditching the grant of up to $5000 (or $10,000 for a new build) available for first home buyers.
But according to a new progress report from the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT), just 18% of the promised social homes had been delivered by June 30 – halfway through the budgeted time frame.
Stuff
…National promised to build an additional 1,500 homes through Budget 2024, they’ve only built 263 while 19 704 wait for state housing – why does National hate poor people so much?
The Government canceled 3500 planned state house builds and have sold off 800 state houses – why does National love private landlords so much?
By destroying social housing, the Government keeps the desperation that allows landlord scumbags to exploit renters
All this Government is focused on doing is creating policy for donor real estate pimps to run roughshod over environmental and infrastructure regulations to build ill thought out and designed houses on the cheap.
No one on the Right is prepared to do anything meaningful on housing that isn’t directly connected to their donors interests.
Independent Media is more important than ever, especially in the lead up to the Election. TDB is the largest Left Wing Blog in NZ and we have been operating for 13 years. We get zero funding from NZonAir and we don’t have no rich backers. If you can donate please do so here or directly into our account –12-3065-0133561-56
Old Maaori Proverb “If it smells like a Rat it probably is a Rat”.