The bill amends the Public Works Act 1981 to create a faster land-acquisition process for specified critical infrastructure projects listed in Schedule 2 of the Fast-track Approvals Act and the roads of national significance in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
The Public Works (Critical Infrastructure) Amendment Bill amends the Public Works Act 1981, the law that lets the Crown and local authorities acquire private land for public works, sometimes compulsorily. The bill creates a faster acquisition pathway for named critical infrastructure projects, such as Roads of National Significance, by tightening the scope for landowner objections so projects face fewer delays. To encourage owners to settle early and hand over vacant possession by an agreed date, it offers a premium of an extra 10% of the land's value, subject to a floor of $5,000 and a cap of $100,000. It modernises the acquisition and compensation processes while keeping the overall framework of the 1981 Act. It mainly affects landowners whose property is needed for major infrastructure and the agencies delivering those projects.
This is a government bill, part of the coalition's broader push to speed up building nationally significant infrastructure. The main argument in favour is that it cuts delays and cost in delivering important projects while giving landowners a stronger incentive to settle early through better compensation. The main argument against is that narrowing objection rights weakens the protections and due process available to property owners, letting the Crown push acquisitions through faster with less room to challenge them, and that the fairness of the compensation and process settings is contested.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.