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Speaker 1: We also got more detail around this fast track plan.

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Speaker 1: We've now got one hundred and forty nine projects that

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Speaker 1: have got the fast track approval to move to the

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Speaker 1: next stage. They came from a list of three hundred

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Speaker 1: and eighty four. Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishops with us on

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Speaker 1: all of this. Very good morning to you. Good morning

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Speaker 1: the three hundred and eighty four. Originally were these just

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Speaker 1: tire kickers or are there three hundred and eighty four

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Speaker 1: that if you had the right frame of mind, we're

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Speaker 1: actually half decent ideas that could probably enhance the country

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Speaker 1: if we had the money the time.

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Speaker 2: The Energy Well put it this way, the Advisory Group

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Speaker 2: recommended three hundred and forty two of them to go

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Speaker 2: through to the next stage. We've taken one hundred and

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Speaker 2: forty nine of them, and the main reason for that

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Speaker 2: is we just don't have the capacity in the system

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Speaker 2: to get all of these permittents, so we've gone for

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Speaker 2: the highest quality application. It's not to say the ones

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Speaker 2: that missed out are not worthy projects. Many of them are,

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Speaker 2: and there'll be other opportunities for those projects be fast

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Speaker 2: tracked as well, if indeed they choose to apply. But

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Speaker 2: these hundred and forty nine are going to be fantastic

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Speaker 2: for the country. Fifty five thousand new houses consented, one

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Speaker 2: hundred and forty three thousand tons of aquaculture around the country,

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Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty kilometers of new road, rail and

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Speaker 2: public transport connections. Twenty two new renewable energy projects with

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Speaker 2: three kickawats of power. This is what the country needs.

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Speaker 1: Okay twenty eight Inrkland twenty two and Cantere nineteen, Wykata fifteen,

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Speaker 1: Otigo twelve and the Bay of plenty eleven and Wellington

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Speaker 1: eleven and Northland? Did it get a geographic waiting or not?

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Speaker 2: The bulk of projects came in those regions, as you say,

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Speaker 2: and we did try and make sure that there was

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Speaker 2: a regional spread around the country. Part of the reason

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Speaker 2: for doing this is to get growth into every knock

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Speaker 2: and cranny of New Zealand, to get unclogged the arteries

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Speaker 2: of growth in the economy, and we want to make

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Speaker 2: sure that regional New Zealand benefits as well. So we

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Speaker 2: did apply a regional lens to it.

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Speaker 1: I've got no problem with it. But how come a

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Speaker 1: roof on Eden Park fits into this? I mean, it

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Speaker 1: doesn't change anything having a roof on Eden Park.

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Speaker 2: Well, they applied and they were recommended by the advisory

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Speaker 2: group as well. One of the projects that should go forward.

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Speaker 2: We put it, put it through. Just because something gets

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Speaker 2: consent doesn't mean it's necessarily funded. I want to make

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Speaker 2: that really clear. There's a bunch of people out there saying, oh,

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Speaker 2: the government's prioritized, thed and back. Just because something might

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Speaker 2: have consent to be done doesn't necessarily mean it ends

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Speaker 2: up getting funding. That's true both of the private sector projects,

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Speaker 2: but also the public sector projects as well. So consenting

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Speaker 2: is different from funding. But let's be really clear. The

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Speaker 2: problem was heasal on at the moment, or has been

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Speaker 2: so many years, is that everyone gets their capital together,

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Speaker 2: then they go off and spend five years trying to

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Speaker 2: get resource consents to something, and in the meantime the

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Speaker 2: economics have changed and all of that. We're trying to

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Speaker 2: create a pipeline of projects around the country, get all

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Speaker 2: of these as many projects as possible consented, so that

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Speaker 2: when the funding becomes available, you don't have to fart

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Speaker 2: around for five years in the environment courts. If you

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Speaker 2: just go and get on with it, how long.

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Speaker 1: Do you have to fight around for because you haven't

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Speaker 1: even passed the law yet.

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Speaker 2: We'll pass it by the end of the year. The

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Speaker 2: expert panels will be set up early in twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 2: and our expectation is that some of these projects will

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Speaker 2: be consented in a manner of months that compares to

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Speaker 2: the status quo, which could be a matter of years

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Speaker 2: and years and year. There are quarries in this country

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Speaker 2: that have spent years fighting to get consent. There are

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Speaker 2: housing developments as many people know that spend years and

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Speaker 2: years tied up in red tape. The same with wind farms.

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Speaker 2: It's just nuts that it takes six to seven years

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Speaker 2: sometimes to consent a wind farm. We need these projects

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Speaker 2: and the obstruction economy is a big part of why

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Speaker 2: we are a slow growth economy. We've been in recession

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Speaker 2: for two years. We've got to get out of that.

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Speaker 2: The only way out of it is to grow. There,

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Speaker 2: grow our way out, and fast tracks a big part

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Speaker 2: of that.

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Speaker 1: Okay, what do you say to that. I'm watching forest

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Speaker 1: and bird over the weekend, and yet again, you're never

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Speaker 1: going to win this, are you. I mean, there are

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Speaker 1: people who simply do not want progress, and that's just life.

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Speaker 2: Look, there are a lot of eights out there who

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Speaker 2: don't want progress, But I think most reasonable in New

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Speaker 2: Zealand except that if we want a standard of living

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Speaker 2: that is better than what we have now, if we

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Speaker 2: want material comforts that other countries have that we don't have,

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Speaker 2: if we want better healthcare, better education services, if we

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Speaker 2: want this a better standard of living, and we want

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Speaker 2: a more prosperous economy, we have to build things. You know,

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Speaker 2: quarries are more autant part of a modern day economy.

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Speaker 2: Public transport and roads connect us to where we need

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Speaker 2: to go. Renewable energy is something. We've got an energy

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Speaker 2: shortage right now. You know, we need more power in

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Speaker 2: this country, and we have a housing crisis, so we

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Speaker 2: need thousands more houses, and we have an infrastructure deficit

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Speaker 2: that I think everyone knows about. So the only way

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Speaker 2: to address those things is to get on and build

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Speaker 2: stuff that it addresses all of those deficits, and that

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Speaker 2: requires fundamental planning reform. It's just too difficult to do

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Speaker 2: things in this country. And I think most reasonable people

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Speaker 2: actually know that, and that's why we have fast Track

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Speaker 2: and that's why we're cracking on with it.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff. Appreciate it. Chris Bishop who is the Infrastructure Minister.

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Speaker 1: I saw him on Friday, was watching a press conference

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Speaker 1: of his with eerk A. Stanford, who's talking about standardized

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Speaker 1: classrooms pumping them out. Then yesterday is pumping out the

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Speaker 1: fast track, so it's not like he's not working.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast. Listen live to

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