Hasn’t the Olympics been exciting! Well done to all our medal winners in rugby sevens, men’s triathlon, and rowing! And there’s more action to come.

Now, while it might not be the same as a gold medal, our industry has also had some great wins and BAU continues at pace.

Tuesday was a historic day for our organisation with the Board formally adopting a new constitution and governance structure. The new constitution introduces a single national membership structure, supported by regional branches and sector groups. This replaces the current system, built around four separately governed regional associations with one focused on sector advocacy and delivering member priorities.

Transporting New Zealand’s national membership will now directly elect board members and sector group representatives at national elections – the first of which will occur in Napier on 4 October 4. The governance changes will help ensure that our organisation remains effective, relevant, and fit for purpose, and also ensure that we comply with the Incorporated Societies Act.

Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced The Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill will be sent to the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee for consideration after its first reading this week.

The push for roadside drug testing legislation came from the RTF years before I joined, and a little like with our constitutional change, this news is welcome and it is a credit to many of the leaders we’ve had before that some of these things are finally coming to fruition.

Anything that makes the roads safer is excellent for truckies and all road users. It’s vital that police have a system to get drugged drivers off our roads. It’s also a timely reminder that  there are some important issues to watch out for with the new testing regime, in particular, managing the risks related to legal and prescription drug use which may trigger positive test results.

We need to make sure the system has plenty of checks and balances and doesn’t stop people from driving who aren’t impaired.

The letter that we, along with other road user group representatives, wrote to Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau about our concerns with Wellington City Council’s plan to put in six pedestrian crossings, five with raised speed platforms, along a 1.7km stretch of freight route, met with a positive response. Mayor Whanau acknowledged that the design needs to be balanced with other factors as well as safety. She is now reviewing the proposal.

Following our meeting with Tertiary Education Minister, Penny Simmonds, late last week, the consultation on the proposed changes to the tertiary sector is imminent. Our intel indicates that the proposed options will address some of the more significant industry concerns but we will need time to go through the proposals. The consultation period is six weeks.

Of particular interest to livestock operators, we are preparing a formal submission on the National Animal Identification Tracing (NAIT) scheme. The scheme is reviewed every three years to shape the next three-year strategy and to calculate funding. Livestock operators have been fined for animals arriving at plants without tags and there is a good case that they are \ facing an unfair liability.

We have developed a survey to collect operator feedback  and I am pleased to see some operators have already completed it. Our survey closes at 5:00pm next Thursday, August 8.

We are also developing a submission on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) regime. ANZSCO is a skill-based classification used to classify all occupations and jobs in the Australian and New Zealand labour markets.

It affects skilled migration reporting, work visa and residency applications, and the quality of occupation data generally hence our interest in it .

We have also formally requested that the Ministry of Transport commit to undertake a review of the RUC legislation.

Over the last several months, Transporting New Zealand has been assisting ACC to promote and encourage recovery at work. A shout out to Hilton Haulage and K&S Freighters for making themselves available as trialists for this initiative. Following some good discussion at our Twizel seminar, we have written to the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners seeking its help with general practitioners to ensure that people who have been injured, regardless of whether that injury occurs at work or not, are taking the best possible road to recovery.

The above is just a sample of what’s going on in the business-as-usual space, and I hope it shows we are continuing to work hard to best represent the needs and interests of our members.

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