No rest for new PM

As I write this, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is about to visit the Governor-General for his appointment. It will be interesting to see what changes in approach will occur under his leadership.

Let’s hope Jacinda Ardern’s mantra about kindness is not lost in the leadership change. I don’t know about your part of New Zealand, but I’ve noticed a real increase in impatience, ill temper and just plain bad behaviour in many areas of life in recent times.

Any supermarket or ‘hospo’ worker, or small business owner, will have many examples. On a couple of long road trips over the Christmas and New Year holidays, it was really evident in a few incidents. I’d like to commend the clown driving a white Nissan Skyline on December 17 who blasted past five cars on freshly laid tar seal at vastly over (probably at least twice) the 50km/h temporary speed limit up the Mahoenui hill. I’m sure you are a great gravel rally stage driver. My windscreen installer thanks you for the additional business.

Road maintenance is an area that was really hit by Covid-19 lockdowns and it’s good to see some progress in recovering that situation over summer. Let’s hope we get fine weather for a fair while yet so that Waka Kotahi can catch up the backlog even more, not helped though by idiots like my example above.

Growing fangs

One that I hope to see under new leadership is that the Commerce Commission and MBIE are encouraged to grow some fangs. During Covid-19 restrictions many businesses had a tough ride, even though the Government poured millions into helping them stay afloat and protect jobs. Sadly some, however, rorted the wage subsidy system. A complete mystery to many people is how it is that the supermarket chains and the major fuel companies have made record profits while the consumer struggles to afford the prices. Yet the Commerce Commission and MBIE don’t seem to act (or maybe they’ve done so with little media attention?). not change this; remember that around 25 percent of deceased vehicle occupants were not wearing seatbelts and while many deaths occur well above the speed limit, most deaths occur below the posted limit. Better driving habits, better judgement, perhaps more patience and courtesy too, and many more passing lanes, might bring the desired results!

A lot of the products sold in supermarkets are still manufactured or grown in New Zealand and we see all sorts of commentary that market gardeners etc are dumping produce or not growing particular fruit or vegetables because they are screwed down on price so much, that it’s just not worth their while. And yet the supermarkets continue making record profits.

Perhaps Consumer magazine or Fair Go needs to have a detailed look at this or even promote a vigorous ‘Buy NZ’ campaign. Imagine if the public, en masse, decided to buy New Zealand products from New Zealandowned outlets, what an effect that would have! Of course, there would be shortages because there couldn’t be enough supply. Up until the 1980s though, that’s how New Zealand was, and there was plenty for all.

Under the pump

Road toll trouble

We do need some rethinking about how roads are managed, not only road works, but also safety. As Minister for Transport Safety about 15 years ago, I was bitterly disappointed that my target of not more that 400 road deaths was exceeded by just five. The media hammered me for not succeeding (off-road vehicle deaths were included that year for the first time because of a change in the legal definition of ‘Road’). After years of trending down to around 300 (as passive car safety in the overall fleet has improved), sadly the past year was almost 400 road deaths again. A mass lowering of speed limits on highways will

Fuel is another area deserving of scrutiny. We have never been 100 percent self-sufficient, although there was an opportunity to be much more so in the early Maui gas field era, but the Government decided on ‘Think Big’ rather than ‘Think Smart’. If New Zealand had adapted gas for all light vehicles (dedicated CNG in the North Island and LPG in the South Island), we could have largely thumbed our collective noses at the international ‘Seven Sisters’ oil majors. We would have been the world leader in gas vehicle technology in a very short time. Even buses were being converted from diesel to spark ignition CNG with very good results. Yes, there were some problems, some having broken transmissions due to the vastly increased torque, I’m told. There would have been considerable environmental and emissions benefits too. The IMF would probably have had a dim view of such a gas strategy though!

However, it wasn’t to be, because the advice to governments is always to go with proven technology, hence the disaster of much of Think Big, which locked us into conventional thinking.

Before I leave fuel though, how is it that no one in the media seems to have noticed not only the record profits of the major petrol/diesel retailers in New Zealand, but also that the cost of petrol is vastly higher now than it was in the 2000s when the crude oil price was actually much higher than today. Wasn’t the reason the oil companies closed down Marsden Point Oil Refinery supposedly to give New Zealand consumers the more competitive fuel prices from the huge overseas oil refineries? As the Tui ad says, “yeah, right”. Our new Prime Minister has many challenges in the year ahead - I’ve only mentioned a few! I wish him well.

• The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author.

Mercedes Joins Radiator Team

Keep an eye out next month for our new columnist and automotive apprentice Mercedes Mulder. Radiator featured Mercedes in October 2022 when she was part of the pit crew for rally champ Hayden Paddon’s tilt at glory in the Ashley Forest Sprint. She’s in the second year of her apprenticeship at MTA member South Canterbury Hyundai in Timaru and is keen on all things automotive. Mercedes will be sharing the life of a modern apprentice in every second issue of Radiator, talking about the challenges of life in the modern motoring world, highlights of her career so far and much more.

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