On 1 April 2025, the Government signalled there would be a Public Works Act (PWA) overhaul on the horizon, aimed at driving infrastructure growth and striking the balance between protecting landowners’ rights and ensuring that the Crown and local authorities can undertake works. This was following comprehensive review of the current PWA, which began back in mid-2024. On 12 May 2025, the Public Works Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2025 (Bill) was introduced, reflecting Minister for Land Information Chris Penk’s announcement from April – at least as that applies to critical infrastructure projects.
The Bill passed its first reading in the House on 15 May 2025. Submissions on the Bill close at 11.59pm on Friday, 13 June 2025, with the Select Committee due to provide its report on the Bill to the House on 16 September 2025.
The Bill is focused on streamlining the land acquisition process under the PWA for the critical infrastructure projects listed in new Schedule 2A that will be inserted into the PWA. These listed projects are the public works projects listed in Schedule 2 of the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024, and Roads of National Significance that are identified in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024 and that are not already listed in Schedule 2 of that Act.
The “streamlined” or “accelerated” acquisition process introduced by the Bill involves the following seven key amendments:
- A submission process replacing the right to object to the Environment Court;
- A new legal test to be considered by the decision maker before giving notices or recommendations regarding compulsory acquisition;
- A new compensation scheme to provide for incentive payments to reach agreement voluntarily and additional payments in recognition that the land is being acquired for a critical infrastructure project;
- Specific exclusions to protect Māori land from this accelerated process;
- Appropriate transitional arrangements;
- An opt-out clause if agencies wish to use the standard PWA process instead of the new accelerated process; and
- A statutory review period of three years to assess whether these proposed changes are still fit for purpose.
We outline below the key changes proposed under each of those themes.
New submission process
Under the PWA, landowners can currently object to the Environment Court, requesting an assessment whether an acquisition proposed under the PWA is fair, sound, and reasonably necessary. To align with the Bill’s objective of streamlining the land acquisition process, the Bill will remove this right to object to compulsory acquisition to the Environment Court, with respect to acquisitions required for the listed critical infrastructure projects.
Instead, landowners will be entitled to make a submission directly to the Minister of Land Information or the relevant local authority if they object to the acquisition of their land (or part of their land) for public works. The submitter will have no right to an oral hearing by the Minister or local authority (unlike in the Environment Court) and must notify the Minister/local authority they intend to make a submission within 10 working days of receiving the notice of acquisition. They then have a further 20 working days from that date of notification, to make their submission. Extensions to those timeframes are possible, but limited.
If a submission is received, the decision will rest with the Minister or local authority as to whether the acquisition can proceed. By removing the Environment Court from the objection process, it is sought to reduce the delays associated with court proceedings (typically up to six to 12 months) which will in turn speed up infrastructure projects.
Express legal test
The Bill expressly requires that the Minister or local authority must have regard to similar matters that the Environment Court would consider (under section 24(7) of the PWA), when deciding whether to issue a notice of intention to take land under section 23 of the PWA or making a recommendation or request under section 26 of the PWA. Those matters include whether it would be fair, sound and reasonably necessary for achieving the objectives of the acquiring authority for the land to be taken. And with respect to decision making for critical infrastructure projects, the matters also including having regard to every submission that was made on the potential acquisition within the required timeframes.
Compensation scheme
The Bill proposes to provide premium payments to landowners who reach agreement with the acquiring authority prior to issuing a notice of intention under section 23 of the PWA. This extra incentive payment goes beyond the entitlements of fair compensation that PWA provides for. The proposed incentive payments seek to recognise and reward landowners who voluntarily agree to sell their land (without the Crown or local authority having to acquire it compulsorily) for the purpose of enabling critical infrastructure. The Bill includes the specific premium awards initially proposed by the Government in announcing its intended PWA reforms, being:
- An incentive payment of an additional 15% of land value (but within a minimum of $5,000 and maximum of $150,000, if 15% of land value is less or greater than those figures respectively), for landowners who voluntarily sell before a notice of intention is issued; and
- A recognition payment of an additional 5% of land value to landowners whose land is acquired, whether by agreement or compulsorily, as acknowledgment that their land is being used for critical infrastructure. This is capped at $92,000, meaning that a total $242,000 payout is possible where both incentive and recognition payments apply.
However, there are exceptions to this new compensatory scheme, including:
- Where vacant possession is not provided as required;
- Whether and why the owner is a willing partner to the acquisition of the land; and
- Where land is being transferred between Crown bodies and/or local authorities.
Specific exclusions to Māori land
Protected Māori land will be excluded from the Bill’s proposed accelerated process. Compensation must still be paid to the owner of protected Māori land if the land is acquired for a critical infrastructure project by agreement under the standard process. However in that circumstance, the landowners will also be eligible for the new incentive and recognition payments, at the discretion of the Minister or local authority.
Transitional arrangements
The Bill provides transitional arrangements for how it will apply to land acquisitions for critical infrastructure projects that have been commenced but not completed, before the Bill is passed and comes into force. In summary, the Minister or a local authority is required to acquire or take land in accordance with the new accelerated process if, before the Bill is passed and comes into force:
- The Minister or the local authority has served a notice of desire under section 18 of the PWA to acquire land for a public work that falls within the definition of a critical infrastructure project but has not yet given and served notices of intention under section 23 of the PWA to take that land; and
- No notices of intention under section 23 of the PWA have been given or served for any other land required for that public work.
Opt-out clause
Agencies responsible for critical infrastructure projects such as Crown bodies and local authorities can opt out of the accelerated process and use the standard PWA process instead if they wish on a project-by-project basis. If they choose to opt out and use the standard PWA process, this will allow the landowner to make an objection to the Environment Court as the current system provides for.
Statutory review period
The new accelerated process will be required to be reviewed three years after its enactment. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the amendments introduced are still fit for purpose and allow for the efficient delivery of critical infrastructure to meet the infrastructure needs as identified by the current Government. The Minister will be required to prepare a report of the review conducted, including the consultation of appropriate people and present such report to the House of Representatives as soon as practicable after the report has been completed.
Concluding remarks
A broader review of the PWA is underway within the House beyond just critical infrastructure. These proposed amendments target a narrower aspect of public works with the aim of delivering critical infrastructure and roads of national significance specifically. It will be interesting to see how the broader review to the standard process under the PWA will fit alongside this introduced accelerated process. The three-year statutory review will also be insightful into whether the proposed accelerated process has responded to the identified current critical infrastructure deficit and whether it has boosted New Zealand’s economic growth and productivity as intended by the Government.
If you have any queries about how these proposed changes may impact you, please contact our office.