Te Pāti Māori says the Fast Track Amendment Bill shows the Governments relentless attacks on Tiriti protections and community safeguards by pretending it is about grocery competition.

Co Leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the grocery justification is a political cover that hides the Bill’s true impact.

“Every week in Parliament Shane Jones yells about seabed mining as if destroying our whenua and moana is a national strategy. The Fast Track Amendment Bill is being driven by that same obsession. They have wrapped it in the language of grocery competition, but it is a smokescreen. The real purpose is to speed up extraction projects by cutting Māori and community voices out of the way.”

Ngarewa Packer says if the Government cared about whānau struggling with food prices, they would regulate supermarkets directly.

“They are not lowering the cost of kai. They are creating a pathway for developers while pretending it helps families.”

Te Pāti Māori says a genuine fast track would support housing, papakāinga, marae upgrades, Māori owned clean energy and climate adaptation, not high risk extraction projects.

“This Bill ignores Te Tiriti and hands more unchecked power to Ministers while giving corporations easier access. It strips away the safeguards that protect our whenua, our moana and our mokopuna.”

Te Pāti Māori will continue to advance a Tiriti based system that protects Māori rights, communities and the taiao.

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