Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

The 2020 election is fast approaching and, in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown and ongoing economic crisis, could be one of the most influential in recent times. 
RTF wrote to the transport spokespeople of the five political parties currently represented in Parliament asking them a series of questions of interest to road transport operators. 
We have presented the responses in their entirety and without any commentary. New Zealand Truck & Driver readers can judge for themselves the merits of each answer and take those into account as they head to the polls on September 19. 
Thanks to Labour's Phil Twyford, National's Chris Bishop, Julie Anne Genter ...

Lost in the noise surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the response to it, and the upcoming election, is the fact that on September 19 voters will also be faced with two extremely important referendums.
The vote on voluntary euthanasia is not something that the Road Transport Forum has a position on. However, the other decision – on the legalisation of recreational cannabis use – most definitely is of concern to RTF.
"There are two aspects to the referendum that should worry us all," says RTF's Nick Leggett.
"The first is the fact that New Zealand already has a high level of drug use. We know that cannabis and other illegal substances are widespread, and des...

Budget 2020 saw Finance Minister Grant Robertson deliver a swathe of Government spending and borrowing – unlike anything we have seen in this country.
Billions of dollars are being borrowed to maintain a workforce teetering on the edge of unemployment, support industries like tourism that have been decimated by COVID-19 and boost critical public services like health.
Much of it is necessary….and yet the predictions from economists are that we will still be left with one of the deepest recessions in our history.
Nobody was surprised by the Budget and probably because of that (as well as the public acceptance of the Government's lockdown decisions), it didn...