The ongoing discussions and debate around the world’s climate “emergency” will not abate. As a result, you will continue to hear from me on this topic through this blog and I won’t apologise for that. Road Transport Forum will release its response to the Climate Change Commission’s Draft Advice for Consultation once it is submitted. Unsurprisingly, we have a lot to say; when do we not?

Transmission Gully and I go back a long way. I have been quite vocal about my concerns with the project over recent times.

When I was Mayor of Porirua, a city which has a lot of skin in the game, I negotiated an agreement to secure vital link roads between the city and the gully and watched the project kick off. Now, as the chief executive of the Road Transport Forum, I see the importance of the route from our industry’s perspective. Transmission Gully will aid the movement of freight by road and is long overdue. Truck drivers will find it easier to access the inter-island ferries and distribution hubs in the area, travel times should reduce and there will be less risk of the Wellington region being cut off in storms and other emergencies.

Auckland’s second Level 3 lockdown this year, which began on Sunday (28 February) at 6am, has dealt another blow to the economy and our industry. The cost of having Auckland at Level 3 and the rest of the country at Level 2 is estimated to be $240 million per week.

Each time the  Government yo-yos in and out of levels without some kind of articulated long-term plan for dealing with Covid-19, businesses and their workers get more fatigued. Each lockdown, some businesses don’t survive.

Driving under the influence of drugs is a deliberate act and should be treated accordingly in law.

Statistics show that drivers impaired by drugs are causing harm and death on our roads; more deaths than drunk drivers. We need to get those drugged drivers off the road as soon as possible and hold them accountable for their willful disregard of the lives of others.

This week we have seen once again, the contribution truck drivers make to New Zealand.

Through natural disasters, pandemics, Covid-19 level changes and lockdowns, and all weathers, truck drivers keep delivering the essentials New Zealanders need to live on a daily basis.

As with the Level 3 lockdown of Auckland in August last year, this week’s move to Level 3 in Auckland again presented many challenges for trucking operators and their drivers with lengthy delays at some road blocks. The photo above shows the south bound traffic, between Pokeno and Mercer on Monday evening.

Many of us are taking time to digest the Climate Change Commission’s draft report that was released almost two weeks ago.

The report lays out our nation’s challenges clearly – we all agree with the absolute need to reduce our emissions over the next few decades. The commission should be congratulated for holding to its clarity and purpose.

Those who were hoping 2021 might be a better year on the Covid-19 front were sadly, wishful thinking.

We now have cases of Covid-19 found in the community in Northland and Auckland and realistically, businesses need to be prepared for some form of alert level change that will mean further restrictions.

Before going on its extended summer break, the New Zealand Government declared a climate emergency; another crisis to add to the “to do list” for the year of delivery, when they return for 2021 from their long hiatus.

As the Covid-19 crisis drags on and New Zealand seems to move further down the line for any kind of vaccination action that will put us back into the world, it’s easy for all the focus to be on that and lack of performance in other areas to be hidden.

Armed with the knowledge that managing Covid-19 in New Zealand is now a long-haul project, it is time for the Government to re-think its approach to the border.

As possibly the last place on earth to get any kind of mass population vaccination coverage – we don’t even have a plan for that yet – we cannot have the level of border closure we’ve got indefinitely.

Eleven people were killed on the roads between Christmas Eve 2020 and 5 January 2021. Even on a scale of all the other things that have happened in just this second week of 2021, we should not overlook this as being deadly serious. Four people were killed in the same period the previous year. What’s going wrong?

Motorsport legend Greg Murphy told RNZ this week that it is too easy to get a driving licence in New Zealand and it’s time for an overhaul, where drivers get better training to make them more aware and prepared for what can really happen on the roads. I couldn’t agree more.

I have spent much of the past week talking to media about the impacts of Northport’s decision to berth the Constantinos P and offload 1340 containers bound for Auckland and further south.

Every story has two sides and my role is to ensure our industry is heard. There are two parts to this particular action – the complications of the berth itself and moving containers, and the impact on the road traffic between Auckland and Northport with more trucks on the road than normal at the busiest time of the year.

This week, myself and Road Transport Forum board member and road freight transport business owner Deborah O’Brien toured the famous Transmission Gully build. We weren’t disappointed.

This road will enhance travel into and out of the Wellington region with a 27 kilometre motorway from Mackays Crossing to Linden that will be a key part of the 110km Wellington Northern Corridor (Wellington to Levin).