KASM calls on Bishop to reign in Shane Jones on Fast-Track interference

PRESS RELEASE

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining has today called on the Minister in charge of the Fast-Track, Chris Bishop, to refuse Minister Shane Jones’ request to meet with the Fast-Track Panel Convenors, arguing it could amount to bullying, and could put the integrity of the Fast-Track process further into question. 

Minister Jones has complained to media both about the time the Fast-Track process is taking, and about critical language used by the Panel Convenor overseeing wannabe seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources’ application, saying he has asked Chris Bishop to set up a meeting with the convenors.

The credibility of the Fast-Track regime depends on decisions being made fairly, independently, and without political interference or favour. Indeed this was why the government changed the initial draft of the bill to remove the language giving the final consent to Ministers,” wrote KASM Chairperson Cindy Baxter in the letter to Chris Bishop.

“The panel convenors — senior legal experts appointed to safeguard the integrity of the process — are entitled to use frank language when assessing applications. Their remarks demonstrate that they are doing their job: applying scrutiny, independence, and candour to a process under intense public attention. 

“Publicly criticising or pressuring convenors undermines that independence, risks politicising decision-making, and could be viewed as bullying. If Minister Bishop agrees to such a request this, in our view, would amount to a reviewable process step and would be perceived as favouritism.”

“The Fast-track Approvals Act places no legal obligation on convenors to meet with Ministers, especially not a Minister whose party’s coalition agreement has a clause around exploiting one of the minerals Trans Tasman Resources wants to mine. Agreeing to such a request would amount to a reviewable process step and would be perceived as favouritism.”

“As the responsible Minister, you must uphold the independence of the convenors. Allowing political influence risks reducing the Fast-Track process to nothing more than approvals by political favour. Even those who support the regime should want decisions grounded in evidence and complete applications — not decisions determined by which Minister shouts the loudest,” she wrote.

If such a meeting were to go ahead, KASM called on Minister Bishop to place a full record of the conversation on the Fast-Track website, which would fit with the transparency rules adopted by the process, which makes all correspondence and minutes of meetings public.