Published on 4 Mar 2026

What 25,000 New Zealanders said about the Fast-Track Approvals Bill

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When the Fast-Track Approvals Bill attracted a significant volume of submissions, the Ministry for the Environment needed a trusted partner to turn 25,017 unique submissions into a credible, publication-ready report. Allen + Clarke delivered a 149-page analysis under tight deadlines, giving the Select Committee an accurate and defensible account of what the public had to say. 

Independent validation via both human coding and using Leximancer (text analysis software) produced consistent results, meeting the high evidential bar required for a politically sensitive Bill. 

Allen + Clarke delivered a credible, publication-ready report on time and to Parliamentary deadlines. The Ministry received a clear account of public sentiment that could withstand Select Committee scrutiny - accurately capturing the views of over 25,000 New Zealanders on this highly technical and contentious Bill.

Strong public interest in the Bill

The Bill proposed a permanent fast-track consenting regime for infrastructure, housing and development. Between 14 March and 19 April 2024, the Select Committee received 25,017 individual submissions and 28,746 signatures on petitions. Submissions ranged from brief single sentence responses to detailed technical commentary on legal and constitutional risks. 

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A structured process that held up to scrutiny

We undertook a structured four phase process to review and analyse the data. 

  • We started by cleaning the data. Of the 26,855 files received, we removed duplicates through a careful manual process and confirmed a verified dataset of 25,017 unique submissions. 

  • Every submission was read and triaged. Submissions were assigned to one of four categories: support, support in principle, oppose or unclear. This gave a clear baseline before thematic analysis began. 

  • We developed a coding framework, and refined it daily during the first week. The coding framework was then applied by our team across 2,539 submissions using NVivo. 

  • To validate our findings, we ran all submissions through Leximancer (a text analytics tool that uses algorithms to identify key themes). The human coding and Leximancer analysis produced consistent results, providing independent verification of our findings. 

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86% of submitters opposed the Bill

86% of submitters opposed the Bill outright. Key concerns included environmental protections, ministerial decision-making powers, Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations and the adequacy of public consultation. 

Allen + Clarke delivered the full 149-page report on time, structured for Select Committee use and ready for public release. It gave the Ministry an accurate and comprehensive understanding of what the public had to say. 

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