This is edition 2026/094 of the Ten@10 newsletter.
Hi all,
This is the Ten@10, where I collate and summarise ten news items you generally won't see in the mainstream media.
Enjoy!
1. The Fast-track investors
Bryce Edwards
- 💰 Over four years since 2022, donations exceeding $1 million have flowed from people or entities linked to fast-track project applications.
- 🔵 In 2025 alone, National and NZ First received $400,000 from fast-track-linked donors, compared to just $8,620 to Labour.
- 🔍 RNZ's Farah Hancock mapped 2025 political donation returns against fast-track applicants, finding nearly 90% of linked donations went to the two coalition parties controlling the regime.
- 🏛️ The Fast-track Approvals Act grants discretionary ministerial and panel power to select specific projects, bypassing parts of the normal consenting process.
- 💰 Sir Rod Drury donated $100,000 to National in 2025 while linked to the Coronet Village proposal for 780 dwellings and a gondola near Coronet Peak.
- 🏢 The Carter Group donated $81,608 to National in 2025, with three of its developments on the fast-track schedule, including an approved Christchurch industrial project.
- 💰 Christopher Meehan's cumulative donations across ACT, National and NZ First now exceed $213,000, with two of his linked projects having passed fast-track approval.
- 🌿 Foresta, proposing a pine chemicals and wood pellet plant in Kawerau, donated $38,487 to National across three tranches while its land lease was signed at the Beehive.
- 👥 The Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust donated $17,539 to NZ First in 2025, linked to the Te Ārai South precinct fast-track application bundling quarrying, aquaculture and housing.
- 🏢 J Swap Contracting donated $13,039 to NZ First in 2025; it shares directors with Katikati Quarries, which seeks fast-track approval to expand into Kaimai conservation land.
- ⚖️ AJR Group director Andrew Ritchie, a shareholder in fast-track applicant Kings Quarry, gave $10,000 to NZ First, saying "it's called democracy and I can do whatever I like."
- ⚠️ Analysts note that party donations are exempt from Cabinet conflict-of-interest rules, leaving no formal barrier between project applicants and the parties deciding their fate.
- 🔥 The pattern identified is not individual quid pro quo but a structural alignment between fast-track applicants and the parties that control approval decisions.
