Ministerial Statements — New Zealand Transport Agency—Regulatory Compliance Review

I wish to make a ministerial statement on the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA). On 15 October, the board of the New Zealand Transport Agency announced that external lawyers had been brought in to conduct a review of 850 open compliance files. The external review began in late September, and based on preliminary findings, the Transport Agency board decided to immediately strengthen its enforcement regime.

It’s clear that NZTA has failed in its duty to properly check the operators that certify vehicles or operators as safe for the road. When problems with these operators were identified, there was often no follow-up. There was a reduced focus on the agency’s regulatory role over the last decade. Staff were redeployed and there was an emphasis on education and encouragement rather than on enforcement, and this was exacerbated in 2014, when the Transport Agency lost staff from its heavy vehicle compliance team. These concerns had been reported in the media, and I must acknowledge the work of Phil Pennington and Radio New Zealand in ensuring that these issues have come to light.

I’m concerned about the scope and seriousness of the failures that have occurred. It is clear that there has been a systemic failure in one of our most important Government agencies over a number of years. The rules set to ensure a safe transport system have not been enforced in some cases. There were 850 cases of providers with potential issues identified in the stocktake by Meredith Connell, which were broken down by severity into 157 high-priority files, 370 files coded orange, and 345 files coded yellow. There has now been substantial progress on resolving these issues. I’m advised that all of the highest-priority matters have now been reviewed, and for most of those matters, formal compliance action either has been undertaken or is under way, but there are approximately 28 matters where further investigative work is being conducted as a matter of urgency.

I am disappointed that the New Zealand Transport Agency has failed to carry out its regulatory responsibilities to the standard that I expect as Minister. I am pleased that the agency’s board has taken swift remedial action. I’ve requested that the Ministry of Transport, as the New Zealand Transport Agency’s statutory monitor, review NZTA’s performance of their regulatory functions. Given the information that I and the public know about the agency’s performance, it’s appropriate to ask for external advice on NZTA’s regulatory performance.

This Government is committed to saving lives on our roads. Injuries on our roads are not the price that we pay to travel. They are unacceptable and preventable. I want to assure the Parliament and the public that the Transport Agency is moving quickly to identify and rectify instances where lapses in the system may have meant that safety standards were not met.

I rise in response to the Minister’s statement. New Zealanders have a clear expectation that key regulatory authorities are enforcing the law. It’s not acceptable for the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to fail in its duty to properly check the operators that certify vehicles or operators as safe for the road. It’s not acceptable, as the Minister says, when problems are identified, for there often to be no follow-up.

The National Party supports the Minister’s decision to request the Ministry of Transport as the New Zealand Transport Agency’s monitor, to review NZTA’s performance of their regulatory functions. We expect that the NZTA’s board and its leadership be held to account for the decisions they made about priorities and their use of the substantial resources devoted to them.

The Minister made the point on radio yesterday that the vast majority of deaths and serious injuries on our roads are the result of driver error, fatigue, and speed, not because of regulatory issues, but that is no excuse for regulatory neglect. The Government needs to ensure that the public can have confidence in NZTA and the companies issuing warrants.

Finally, we do believe that the Minister should ensure that where there is any continued doubt about the integrity of warrants of fitness, the New Zealanders affected are contacted promptly before they and their families embark on long summer journeys over the festive season.

I stand to support the Minister’s ministerial statement and a small part of the member’s contribution from the other side of the House. The Minister is actually addressing nine years of political neglect. The Minister has moved in. He has brought a sharper level of focus to an area where there has been a continuous set of cases of egregious neglect. The Minister is absolutely correct that the board, who jealously defend their neutrality and their independence, are absolutely held to account for this awful news. And I’m sure, at an appropriate time, the level of accountability that belongs not only with the board but the CEO is brought home where it belongs.

But, of course, the Minister has to reassure garden-variety Kiwis that the regulatory framework, whilst it might be intact—that the people are not influenced by too much political negative tone, which has obviously been the case over the last nine years. The Minister has an extraordinarily big job to maintain not only confidence but to assure garden-variety Kiwis that those at the wheel are not asleep and that they are alert as to their full regulatory burdens, unlike over the last nine years.