Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

As Election 2026 approaches, Transporting New Zealand has been setting out its policy priorities for the next Government. Developed from feedback from members across the country, these priorities recognise the vital role road freight plays in New Zealand’s economy and focus on practical reforms that will improve productivity, resilience and safety.

Securing New Zealand’s fuel supply

This year, New Zealanders got a hard lesson about the importance of a resilient diesel supply.

New Zealand’s isolation, which previously protected us from overseas crises, instead came at a significant cost. The Asia Pacific Region runs a significant oil def...

In March, I spent two weeks in the South Island and when I was due to return to Wellington my ferry trip across the Strait was cancelled. I was delayed a day getting back. Two days later, on a flight from Napier some low cloud stopped us landing at Wellington Airport. We turned around and I had another unscheduled overnight stay away from home. The following morning my rescheduled flight was delayed, meaning I’d miss my next flight to Hamilton. I ended up driving there and got back to Wellington a day later than planned (again).

I’m not complaining, but it was irritating. A few things I meant to get done had to b...

This follows an international trend. Australian parliamentarian Michael McCormack recently gave a speech about the “Trucking Industry Grinding to a Halt.”

Another Australian commentator, Paul Tranter, described the pressures across the Tasman this way:

“The warnings come from operators, industry associations, and analysts who have watched margins compress to unsustainability while co...

Transporting New Zealand is generally supportive of tolling, where it delivers more substantial roading improvements, more quickly. We need faster, safer roads delivered in years, not decades.

However, an important condition for support is drivers having a choice, by requiring a free alternative to be maintained. Currently, the law states a Minister of Transport must not recommend the tolling of a road unless satisfied that “a feasible, untolled, alternative route is available to road use...

Those strategies will also depend on external factors, in particular demand and supply of freight services.

In order of highest priority, our freight survey last year showed that the four issues of most importance to transport businesses were: business cost and economic pressures; the poor state of the roading network; the health, safety and wellbeing of drivers; and regulatory requirements ...