The bill enables the establishment of expert consenting panels. These are convened by a sitting or retired Environment Court judge, who also appoints the chairperson for each panel and its members. These panels will consider the projects listed in the bill or those referred to them through an Order in Council. Panels will be responsible for considering and determining resource consents and designations for those projects. They will have similar powers to consenting authorities, which are normally councils, followed by Environment Courts, under appeal, under the RMA. Panels will be chaired normally by a sitting or retired Environment Court judge, but, on occasions, a senior RMA lawyer could be appointed in that person's stead. The panel will have a minimum of three commissioners, and include nominees from the relevant local authorities and local iwi authorities. Each panel is expected to include resource management expertise as well as technical expertise in relation to the project and its effect, and each panel will include expertise in tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori.