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Another busy week for NRC with plenty of exciting initiatives underway for our members. The team have been busy signing up lots of new members. It’s really pleasing to see so many transport operators recognising the great specialised support our team of commercial transport specialists provide, our member discounts, and all of the advocacy work we’re doing. I started the week having a very insightful webinar conversation with Simeon Brown, transport spokesman for the National Party. We covered a lot of ground, everything from roading and funding policy, to emissions reduction, and even institutional trust. It was clear Simeon has a strong depth of understanding of the issues facing transport operators, and the policies needed to address them. If you missed our webinar, don’t panic, you can watch the link here. Tuesday started off with a major milestone to celebrate, the launch of the much-anticipated HARMfree Transport and Logistics Online Portal. The industry-leading programme is specifically designed to reduce injury and harm across the transport sector and offers practical tools to help operators reduce workplace risk. This is going to be a game-changer for transport operators of all sizes, offering a central place for sharing and learning how to keep our people, our most important asset, looked after. I’m proud of NRC’s involvement in helping our partner NZ Trucking Association deliver this, we’re just getting started, there’s a lot more to come. Tuesday morning the NRC Transport & Logistics Advisory Group also met, chaired by Simon Bridges, fresh off the plane from China. Top of the list was looking at how NRC can best work with a new government to drive the solutions we need in roading, workforce and emissions reduction. We agreed that the number one focus needs to be the rapid execution of roading maintenance prioritisation, and the roads of national significance build. Continuing to work constructively with whoever the Minister of Transport is post-election will be critical. They will have a long list of issues needing urgent attention, and will need constructive support and help from the industry to get them done. Partnering with government agencies and other stakeholders to deliver the programmes of work such as HarmFree, Truck Safe, and developing an emissions pathway that is realistic and achievable for the sector will also be an NRC priority, working closely with our partners NZ Trucking Assn to achieve this. Wednesday saw me hop on a flight to Wellington to attend the Road Freight Safety Partnership workshop. Along with Dave Boyce and Dom Kalasih we’re building an industry-government partnership with Waka Kotahi, MOT and WorkSafe to collectively deliver initiatives that will tangibly improve safety for the road freight sector. Having all three associations working closely together with government is critical to delivering the outcomes the industry need, and I’m really pleased at the level of commitment from all the parties to making this work. Next week there will be a hiatus for the Transport Minute, I’ll be off spending some time with my family over the school holidays. Justin |
