Fast Track Approvals Bill – TEU submission.
April 23, 2024
Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union has submitted on the government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill, strongly opposing the legislation after 458 members and allies signed an open letter that outlined our concerns.
The submission states that “TEU strongly opposes the Bill and recommends that it does not proceed and is, instead, replaced by a resource management framework which is both conducive to Aotearoa New Zealand industries operating in a sustainable way and in alignment with Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the UNDRIP obligations.”
“The Bill undermines Māori and taonga that should have been protected by Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, by failing to uphold tino rangatiratanga over whenua and taonga katoa; is premised on undemocratic processes and sets a dangerous precedent by undermining good governance; undermines the exercising of academic freedom and prevents input from tertiary education experts; is conducive to the prioritisation of lobbyists’ economic interests over and above those of Māori, the environment, and the wider public; and is thereby in breach of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).”