The government’s list of companies invited to apply through the Fast Track process includes the most environmentally destructive industries in New Zealand, says Greenpeace.

On Friday afternoon, just hours before the closing deadline for submissions on the Fast Track Approvals Bill, the government released a list of all so-called ‘stakeholders’ sent invitations to apply for the Fast Track - a process which has been slammed for its potential to bypass environmental protections and normal democratic process.

This list includes environmental destroyers Fonterra, Talley’s, and wannabe seabed miners Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR), says Greenpeace.

TTR has failed time and time again to prove that seabed mining won’t cause harm to the biodiversity of the South Taranaki Bight including blue pygmy whales, the critically endangered Māui dolphins, and seabirds like kororā.

Mega dairy company Fonterra also received an invitation to the Fast Track. Giving New Zealand’s biggest climate and freshwater polluter a free pass to run roughshod over environmental laws is the last thing we should be doing in a climate and biodiversity crisis.

Commercial fishing company Talley’s was also on the invite list, a company with a long history of destructive fishing, and multiple incidents of trawling in closed areas.

The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities.

Greenpeace says the Luxon government has displayed a lack of transparency over the whole process. It won’t release the list to be included in the Bill until after the select committee considers it.

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