Justin’s Transport Minute – 18/08/2023

Another flurry of political activity this week on the transport front…anyone would think there’s an election coming.

Yesterday, the government announced a transport “Government Policy Statement” (GPS) out for consultation. With less than 60 days to the election, the danger is many will consider the GPS a dead rubber, as they say in sport. In its simplest form, the government’s transport policy amounted to $20b of spend on roading, public transport, and yes, cycleways. The sting in the tail is that it will be paid for by fuel excise duty going up 12c a litre. And as we know, where FED goes, RUC goes.

Ministry of Transport’s Freight and Supply Chain Strategy is pragmatic say freight industry bodies NRC and NTA

The Ministry of Transport’s Freight and Supply Chain Strategy released today is a pragmatic document and where we need to go according to freight industry bodies National Road Carriers Association (NRC) and the NZ Trucking Association (NTA).

The Strategy sets out nine strategic goals for the next 10 years. Strategic goals under the heading Infrastructure and Government Systems include decarbonising freight routes and infrastructure, evidence-based decision making for freight, and reliable and adaptive long-term plans for the freight system.