We had a record turnout at our AGM last Friday with the highlight being the election of the Board.

Congratulations to Brett Hamilton, Greg Pert, Murray Young, Scott Johnstone and Warwick Wilshier as our new Board.

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 their respective associations that they represented. I have no doubt their input and influence on the sector will continue well into the future.

The North Island Seminar was another excellent event. It was so popular we had to close registrations weeks prior to the event, just as we had to do to with its South Island twin meeting in June. A massive thanks to all that joined us, especially all our members, associates, speakers and the commercial partners that supported the event. From my selfish perspective, it was also a great opportunity to catch up face to face with many members.

Another highlight of the weekend was the Awards session at the dinner.

Congratulations to all the winners and those that were nominated. More details are included elsewhere in Dispatch but to me a common theme displayed across the categories was leadership that 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 future of the industry.

Top speakers

Our Napier seminar had a diverse selection of speakers, some of the key notes were delivered by local MP Katie Nimon, Cam Bagrie and Lisa Tamati.

Not that she needed it but Katie also had some support with the Hon. Simeon Brown sharing his messages by video. Katie has a strong background and is passionate about transport and she was able to point out a number of transport wins, both already and in the pipeline.

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 is facing. That said it was great to see further progress on the Tararua to Manawatū. Highway.

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

Economist Cam Bagrie had some positives. Mainly that 2025 will not be as 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 that spend most of their time facing members – tell members what they need to hear not what they want to hear!

Cam also reckons our country is facing a number of structural problems, particularly in the education area with student attendances being poor and that 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 getting jobs done that produce the results that are going to make a meaningful difference.

Invest with discipline and improve productivity, take out fat not muscle, and micro is the key – manage what you can. I found his talk full of useful advice and reminders to challenge myself on how we can do better in how we work and what we work on.

Lisa Tamati. Wow! 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 I’m still struggling to comprehend!

My takeouts 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 what you can’t do.  Focus on doing the task at hand with positivity and the outcome will look after itself. I allowed myself a nervous chuckle because this was the only thing where I’ve ever got close to Lisa. I tell the hockey team I coach, focus on what you’re doing and execute the plan, and the score will look after itself. What Lisa has done and how she does it is absolutely inspirational.

Submissions

This week we were straight back into it. There have been formal submissions 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 it 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. It’s not surprising there are varying levels of support across the three cases. Members can check out our website to see the details.

I was also pleased to see this week that the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism (TRAN) Committee has voted to initiate trilogue negotiations on the revision of 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.

Cave changes

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

The second visit was to join a community meeting in Cave where some road engineering changes had created barriers to freight trucks and agricultural contractors being able to safely pass 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 – they took a great position and rather than wasting too much time on why things had got us to this position, they were very constructive and solution focussed.

The changes agreed will bring a great balance between safety, productivity and environment. Now we just have to 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!

I hope all those that attended our seminar take some time this weekend to recover.

Dom Kalasih, Interim Chief Executive, Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting NZ