Every Fast-track Approvals Act application moves through three procedural phases. They are not equal in time, cost or risk. Most applicants underestimate the first phase, which is where the application is actually won or lost.
Phase 1 — Suitability assessment
Before anything formal happens, the applicant has to answer two questions honestly:
- Is the project eligible? Under s.17, certain projects cannot use the regime at any cost — those on Māori customary land, in national parks or wilderness areas, in marine reserves or world heritage sites, or contrary to specified Treaty settlements. No amount of engineering or legal work can fix an eligibility failure.
- Does it pass the benefit test? Section 22 requires significant regional or national benefits across one of nine limbs. We covered this in our [benefits explainer](/blog/significant-regional-or-national-benefits-explained).
This phase is unfunded by the regime and informal. Most applicants do it in days. They should be doing it in weeks. The output of suitability assessment is a written go/no-go decision and a strategic case for the next phase.
Skip suitability assessment and the wheels come off later — either at referral (Minister declines), at substantive (panel pushes back on benefit framing), or at appeal.
Phase 2 — Referral application
If the project is not already on Schedule 2 (the original 149-project list attached to the Act), it must apply to be referred. The referral application:
- Argues the project meets the s.22 benefit limbs with evidence
- Records iwi/hapū engagement to date
- Sets out which approvals will be sought (RMA, Conservation, Crown Minerals, Heritage NZ, Wildlife, Reserves, etc.)
- Identifies relevant local authorities and ministers
The Minister for Infrastructure (jointly with portfolio ministers) decides whether to refer the project to an expert panel. Decision options: refer, refer with amendments, or decline.
Referral applications typically take 4–8 weeks of work and 6–12 weeks for the Minister to decide. Total ~3–5 months added to the timeline for non-Schedule-2 projects.
Schedule 2 projects skip this phase entirely. This is why the original list was politically valuable.
Phase 3 — Substantive application
This is the main event. The applicant lodges everything: AEEs across all sought approvals, draft conditions, technical assessments, iwi engagement records, cultural impact assessment, urban design, transport, ecology, archaeology, geotech, economic, three-waters.
The EPA convenes an expert panel — typically three or four members, chaired by a current or former judge, with a Treaty/tikanga member and subject-matter experts as needed.
The panel:
- Seeks comments from defined statutory parties (no general public submission rights)
- May issue clarification requests or seek additional information
- Holds a hearing if it decides one is needed
- Issues a written decision within statutory timeframes
Average panel decision time across the first 23 approved projects: 128 working days from completeness. Fastest: Ports of Auckland at 66 days. Compared with 18–36 months for a notified RMA consent, this is dramatic — but only if the package is lodgement-ready on day one.
The panel can approve in full, approve in part (the Ashbourne decision cut a retirement village and removed productive-soils lots), or decline. Appeals are limited to points of law to the High Court.
Where the time really goes
A 12-month Fast-track engagement typically splits as:
- Months 1–2: Suitability assessment, pre-lodgement engagement, specialist contracting, iwi engagement scoping
- Months 2–4: Referral application (if needed)
- Months 3–8: Substantive package build — all technical workstreams in parallel
- Months 8–9: Substantive lodgement + pre-lodgement gate review
- Months 9–12: Panel engagement, clarification rounds, conditions negotiation, decision
The substantive package build is where applicants spend most of the money. The suitability assessment is where applicants should be spending most of their attention.