The Last Mile

ARROGANCE OR IGNORANCE?

An article published on Newsroom on 25 August draws attention to the shortfall in funding NZTA needs to maintain our roads. The article says that NZTA has already spent 80% of its budget one year into its threeyear funding cycle. The culprits are said to be the weather and of course Covid-19, which NZTA says resulted in 11% reduction in income. What? Did the agency expect its income to remain the same while everybody else took a nosedive? One only must look at the revenue from RUC published regularly in this magazine to see how much this has affected NZTA income. But in one respect, we should all rejoice because the government has loaned NZTA $2 billion to compensate for this. As it’s only a loan, the expectations are that NZTA will pay the government back. The story suggests officials from the Ministry of Transport have told the minister that the current Land Transport

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Revenue Review will consider this shortfall; for ‘consider this shortfall’, it is easy to read price increases across the board. The ‘officials’ are also quoted as telling the minister that “high levels of staff turnover are adversely impacting productivity and Our roads – something to consider momentum”. This comes at the time the agency is reported as having acquired 1000 more staff than it had in 2017, with About 300B.C., the Romans recognised most of the increase in what are called the importance of having a substantial back-office jobs. For example, the roading network as vital to their number of human resources staff has communities’ economic wellbeing and increased from 51 to 118. Something survival. They undoubtedly built their doesn’t sit right with me, particularly roads using the best materials and when one recalls the recent round technology. Some of the roads are still of redundancies at the agency, with usable today. Why is it 2000 or so years some leaving having 10 or more years later – with all the advancements made of service in the vital areas of vehicle by humans – that we cannot build roads safety and driver licensing.that last longer than a few months? Meanwhile, another government agency that’s looking a bit dodgy is WorkSafe NZ. A story by Radio New Zealand on 17 August opens by saying, “WorkSafe lacks a clear strategy, and it cannot say if its activities are costeffective or reducing workplace harm, an independent review has found.” The story originates from a review commissioned by Workplace Relations Safety Minister Michael Wood. Yes, the same Michael Wood who is also minister of transport. This report does make for interesting reading and, at more than 150 pages, it is hard going but does contain some ‘interesting’ findings that affect our industry. For example, on page 15, it says: “Responses to fatigue in the road freight transport industry: given the current lack of agreement over roles and responsibilities of government transport-related agencies, as the regulator and system leader WorkSafe should be intervening as a matter of urgency. This could include conducting a targeted complex intervention in fatigue in the road transport freight industry.” On page 16, it recommends that [WorkSafe NZ] “reconsiders its view that it is not funded for activities in the transport sector”. Clearly, this report highlights an issue that has hung over the industry for some time: who is the regulator for the road transport industry? NZTA, as the operational agent for the Ministry of Transport, or WorkSafe NZ? Not to mention the police as an enforcement agency that works across both?

The Accidental Trucker

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Strange coincidences

Is it pure coincidence or just bad luck that the current CEO of NZTA, Nicole Rosie, was also the CEO of WorkSafe NZ from 2016 to 2019, and both organisations report to the same minister for their activities?

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