This month’s Transporting New Zealand North Island Seminar in Napier was another excellent event. It was not only a good opportunity to catch up with old friends but also to discuss the issues that need to be sorted.

The opening address was from Napier MP Katie Nimon. She comes from a long line of transport operators, and it’s always good to have friendly speakers in high places! She is passionate about transport, and pointed out several transport wins, completed and in the pipeline.

Not that she needed it, but Katie also had some support from Transport Minister Simeon Brown, who shared his messages by video about the government’s commitment to transport, which is always good to hear.

Having travelled over the arduous Saddle Road between Palmy and Woodville less than 24 hours earlier, I could easily connect to the issues and challenges our road network faces. That said, it was great to see further progress on the Tararua to Manawatū Highway.

But front-of-mind for the government is the funding gap. What resonated with me from these addresses was a clear signal that it has an excellent appreciation of how important transport is and the value it brings to the economy. That can only be good for our sector.

Speaker and economist Cameron Bagrie also had some positives. Mainly that 2025 will not be like 24!

His advice to delegates included the observation that good leadership is not about being a populist; it’s about saying what really needs to be said and done. I’m proud to say something similar is in the job descriptions of our team members who spend most of their time facing members – tell members what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

Cameron also reckons our country is facing several structural problems, particularly in the education area, with poor student attendance having considerable flow-on effects.

He used the analogy that there are too many preachers and not enough plumbers. In other words, there are too many show ponies who spend too much time talking and not enough time making a meaningful difference.

Another highlight of the weekend was the awards session at the dinner. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees.

To me, a common theme displayed across the categories was leaders who had successfully created positive change. The fact the judging panel had a difficult time determining the winners for the nominations is a great sign for the industry’s future.

Speaking on the run

Ultra-marathoner Lisa Tamati has some good tales to tell. Sometimes I think I swing big and aim for stretch targets so we don’t drift. After her talk, I felt deflated! Lisa Tamati, adventurer and ultra-marathon runner, takes that to a quantum level that I still struggle to comprehend!

My takeaways from Lisa’s session were: Don’t underestimate the satisfaction you get from what you do achieve with your goals, and focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t.

Submissions

On a governmental level, formal submissions have been completed on ACC levies and NZTA’s proposals to toll three highways.

In the former case, our main point is that ACC should not terminate the Fleet Saver programme. In our view, that programme is one of the most successful programmes in transport – it is run by an independent, and it offers a financial incentive and produces good health and safety results.

In the cases of road tolling, each scenario is quite different, from finally replacing a main connector between two regions to brand new roads. Unsurprisingly, there are varying levels of support across the three cases.

I was also pleased to see this week that the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee has voted to initiate trilogue negotiations on revising the driving licence and weights and dimensions directives.

The two directives aim to tackle critical industry challenges such as driver shortages and the transition to greener, more efficient commercial road transport. This is absolutely consistent with what we’ve been advocating and are doing here.

We had a record turnout at our recent AGM with the highlight being the election of the board. Congratulations to new board members, Brett Hamilton, Greg Pert, Murray Young, Scott Johnstone and Warwick Wilshier.

My thanks go to Deb O’Brien and Peter Heagney, who are departing board members. Both have contributed significant time, effort, leadership and strategic thinking through multiple channels, including the industry, our board and the associations that they represented.

Cave changes

Last month, I visited Christchurch and South Canterbury. The first port of call was to discuss the Rolleston Access Improvement project.

The second visit was to attend a community meeting in Cave, where some road engineering changes have created barriers to freight trucks and agricultural contractors’ safe passage through the tiny settlement. I was pleasantly surprised at the massive turnout, which included Federated Farmers, the local MP, councillors, contractors, freight operators and residents. It was a great demonstration of how transport touches all our lives.

A big shout-out to Timaru District Council and councillors Pye and Shannon – rather than wasting too much time on why things had got us to this position, they were very constructive and solution-focused.

The changes agreed will achieve balance between safety, productivity and the environment. Now we just must get the other 70 or so road controlling authorities on board to see things in a similar vein and many of our issues will be resolved!