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Fast-track Approvals Act 2024

Fast-track approvals process - Referral of project to fast-track approvals process - Process after Minister receives referral application

17: Minister invites comments

You could also call this:

“Minister asks for thoughts on a new project”

When the Minister gets an application, they need to ask for comments from different people and groups. Here’s what happens:

The Minister sends a copy of the application to local authorities, the Minister for the Environment, other important Ministers, government agencies, Māori groups, and owners of Māori land in the project area. They ask these people and groups to give their thoughts in writing.

Before asking for comments, the Minister gets a list of Māori groups from the responsible agency.

Local authorities must tell the Minister about any other applications they have that might compete with this one. They also need to mention any existing resource consents that are related.

If the project includes land in a World Heritage Area, the Minister of Conservation must be asked for comments too.

The Minister can also ask any other person for their thoughts on the application.

Everyone who is asked has 20 working days to send their comments after they get the application.

The Minister must think about all comments received on time. They don’t have to look at late comments, but they can if they want to, as long as they haven’t made a decision yet.

In this section, ‘World Heritage Area’ means a special place listed by the United Nations as important to the world. The ‘World Heritage Convention’ is an agreement between countries to protect these special places.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS943292.

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Part 2 Fast-track approvals process
Referral of project to fast-track approvals process: Process after Minister receives referral application

17Minister invites comments

  1. The Minister must copy the application to, and invite written comments from,—

  2. the relevant local authorities; and
    1. the Minister for the Environment and other relevant portfolio Ministers; and
      1. the relevant administering agencies; and
        1. the Māori groups identified in the list provided to the Minister under subsection (2); and
          1. the owners of Māori land in the project area.

            1. Before the Minister invites comments under subsection (1), the responsible agency must provide the Minister with a list of the Māori groups referred to in section 18(2).

            2. Without limiting subsection (1), a local authority must provide comments advising of—

            3. any applications that have been lodged with the local authority that would be competing applications if a substantive application for the project were lodged; and
              1. in relation to any proposed approval of the kind described in section 42(4)(a) (resource consent), any existing resource consents of the kind referred to in section 30(3)(a).

                1. Without limiting subsection (1)(b), if the project area includes land within a World Heritage Area, the Minister of Conservation is a relevant portfolio Minister under that subsection.

                2. The Minister may also copy the application to, and invite written comments from, any other person.

                3. Anyone who is invited to provide written comments under this section has 20 working days from the receipt of the copy of the application to do so.

                4. The Minister—

                5. must consider any comments received within that time frame:
                  1. is not required to consider any comments received after that time frame, but may do so, in the Minister's absolute discretion, as long as the Minister has not already made a decision under section 21.

                    1. In this section,—

                      World Heritage Area means a property included in the World Heritage List under paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the World Heritage Convention, as amended from time to time

                        World Heritage Convention means the United Nations Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, done at Paris on 16 November 1972.

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